Get Pesticides out of Your Kids’ Classrooms: It’s easier than you
think!
By Kate Watkins, Outreach
Intern with Toxic Free NC
Leaving
children in school, daycare, or another person’s home can be nerve wracking for
any parent. It’s impossible to
have complete control over everything in our children’s daily environment, but
there are plenty of important things we can control. Luckily, exposure to toxic chemicals like pesticides is one
of them! By requesting the use of safer
pest control in child care facilities, we can spend less time worrying and more
time focusing on spelling tests, classroom parties, and scraped knees!
If you haven’t heard much about
Integrated Pest Management, or IPM, do not be discouraged! IPM is a toxic-free approach to pest
control that dramatically reduces chemical pollution by emphasizing prevention.
IPM depends on smarter cleaning,
maintenance, and monitoring of pest prone areas in schools, daycares, and also
in the home. Toxic Free NC, NC
State University, and even the US Environmental Protection Agency encourage
schools and child care centers to use IPM. Some great news is that progress has been made! North Carolina’s “School Children’s
Health Act” required public schools to adopt IPM programs by October 2011. However, we still have a ways to go in
order for private schools and child care centers to catch on to these healthy
habits.
IPM tactics cost less than many
conventional pest programs, and are often more effective than spraying yucky
pesticides. To utilize IPM, teachers,
students, school staff, and administrators need to be educated on how they can
participate. Monitoring of the
grounds must be done regularly to catch potential pest problems before they
begin. Preventive actions must be
taken, including smarter cleaning, proper waste disposal, structural maintenance,
and good soil health. These steps
can be as simple as installing weather stripping and door sweeps to prevent
pests from entering your child care center and home; putting cereal and sugar
in airtight, plastic containers; repairing leaky pipes; and making sure all
garbage cans lock securely.
If pest problems do break out despite
these measures, the least-toxic and lowest-risk pesticides should be used to
eliminate the problem, such as baits and traps. In these cases, parents must be notified if pesticides are used.
Records of pest activity and
management must be kept so that problem areas can be monitored. Using these tactics can also help spread
awareness about toxic pesticides among the staff, and may greatly reduce their
use.
To
help you get started with IPM, Toxic Free NC offers free training to child care
centers. Participants will also receive
four NC Division of Child Development and Early Education contact hours...for
free! If you are interested in
hosting an IPM training for your staff, please contact Lynne Walter at Toxic
Free NC at (919) 833-1123 or lynne@toxicfreenc.org.
Now, let’s jump on the natural bandwagon
and discover the wonders of toxic free living through Integrated Pest
Management!
Resources:
Toxic Free NC: www.toxicfreenc.org
What is Integrated Pest Management? http://www.toxicfreenc.org/informed/factsheets/whatisIPM.html
Toxic Free Child Care: http://www.toxicfreenc.org/programs/childcare.html
Toxic Free Schools: http://www.toxicfreenc.org/programs/school.html
The School Children’s Health Act: A Guide for Parents from Toxic
Free NC: http://www.toxicfreenc.org/informed/factsheets/schoolchildrenshealthact.html
Kate Watkins is a
student, nanny, dancer, and she is also a volunteer for Toxic Free NC. She hopes to join the Peace Corps or
another international NGO, and she is extremely passionate about environmental
issues and their impact on human rights.
Toxic Free NC is a non-profit organization in Raleigh fighting
pesticide pollution by advocating for common-sense alternatives that protect
our health and environment. Toxic Free NC works extensively with child care
providers and parents to reduce toxic pollution in children’s environments. You
can find out more about their work at www.toxicfreenc.org, or by calling
(919) 833-1123.
