Schools pesticide plan in works

Tuesday, June 26, 2001 | 9:34 a.m.

A pilot program to provide extra training for people who apply pesticides at Clark County schools is being readied.

Plans for the program should be finalized next month with the state Department of Agriculture, said Pat Herron, assistant superintendent of facilities for the Clark County School District.

The school district already voluntarily notifies parents before spraying pesticides or painting buildings, Herron said, but the pilot program would go a step further, providing special training for school district staff about pesticides. A long-range plan would also be developed.

Three schools in the district will be chosen for the pilot program and if it is successful the rest of the district will follow, Herron said.

Charles Moses, environmental specialist with the Nevada Department of Agriculture, said the joint plan with the Clark County schools would focus on prevention, rather than eliminating pesticides entirely.

Pesticides at school buildings are also a concern of Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who is co-sponsoring a bill working its way through Congress.

The amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, co-sponsored by Reid and Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., passed the Senate earlier this month. The bill would require schools nationwide to use either alternatives to pesticides or the least-toxic pesticides available.

"Exposure to pesticides has been linked to cancer, neurological disorders and learning disabilities, and children are more vulnerable to toxins than adults are," Reid said. "This bill won't eliminate the use of pesticides, but it will make sure that their use is restricted in the place where children spend most of their day -- in school."

If the bill passes, schools nationwide would have one year from its enactment to submit a pesticide plan to the Environmental Protection Agency for approval.