The School IPM Rant

We often hear people brag about their child's school having an IPM, or "Integrated Pest Management" policy for school fields. Do they not realize that IPM is an industry-developed and sponsored program? The underlying concept of IPM sounds great - using least toxic methods first, then graduating to heavy chemicals only if the natural methods don't work. But the reality is that these programs are usually administered by people with years of training in pesticides and zero training in natural methods. In all the years since IPM was introduced, the use of pesticides has gone up, not down. IPM may have some limited applications for indoor pest control, but to control weeds? We don't think so.

Bottom line: Many lawn pesticides are either carcinogens or neurotoxins or both. If they were spilled on a school field by accident, men in hazmat suits would be dispatched to clean them up. These products should never even get close to a school, and with today's advances in soil science and organic products, we don't need them at all!

The ChildSafe School Part I

It's hard to remember exactly how it got started. Like any parents, we were concerned about the health and safety of our kids, and how they were being affected by chemicals in the environment. At home we ate organic food, maintained our lawn without pesticides, avoided things like fabric softeners and chemical air fresheners, and used natural cleaning products. But once our kids got to school, we knew someone else was making decisions that affected their environment. What did they know?

Not much, as it turned out. Our first brush with toxins at school was with the friendly groundskeeper at the elementary school where Patti and a few parents had started a school garden. One day he casually volunteered to spray the perimeter of the garden with pesticides to kill the weeds. A few minutes later Patti was in the Principal's office discussing why pesticides were being used at our kids' school. That night around the dining room table she wrote the first ChildSafe school policy prohibiting pesticides on fields and grounds. Today it's the law in New York State!