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Healthy Schools Campaign 2004
Support AB 1006 (Chu)
Protect the
health of California's children and teachers. Eliminate the worst
pesticides from Califonia schools.
California's
public school children and staff are in school 6+ hours per day.
A 2002 survey of California's 15 largest school districts found
that 54 pesticide active ingredients that are known or suspected
carcinogens, reproductive or developmental toxins, endocrine disruptors,
acute toxins and/or cholinesterase inhibitors (nervous system toxicants)
may still be in use in and around California schools. Our school
children and school staff should have a safe learning and working
environment.
Pesticides
have been linked to both acute and chronic illnesses:
* Toxic pesticides are known to cause acute symptoms, such as nausea,
headache, dizziness, asthma attacks, and respiratory irritation,
which are often diagnosed as flu-like symptoms.
* Pesticides have also been linked to chronic effects, such as birth
defects, nervous system disorders, reproductive problems, learning
disabilities, immune deficiency, and several types of cancer.
Children's bodies and brains are immature and are still developing
and growing. Exposure to pesticides during periods of development
may have permanent, irreversible effects. Meanwhile, children's
health problems are on the rise:
* Learning disabilities among children rose an alarming 191% from
1977 to 1994.
* Brain cancer in children went up 40% from 1973 to 1994.
* Asthma among children has more than doubled in the last twenty
years and is the leading cause of missed school days in California.
Female teachers
are showing sharply higher cancer rates:
A recent study by the University of Southern California, UC Irvine,
the Public Health Institute, Northern California Cancer Center,
and state Department of Health Services showed that female teachers,
compared to other women of the same age and race in California,
have a:
* 51 percent higher rate of breast cancer
* 47 percent higher rate of lymphoma
* 28 percent higher rate of leukemia
School districts
are moving towards effective, efficient, and cost-effective pest
control without using harmful pesticides:
School districts across the state including Oakland Unified, San
Francisco Unified, Ventura Unified, Santa Ana Unified, and Los Angeles
Unified, and other districts across the country are using alternative
approaches-such as California's preferred method of "least-toxic
Integrated Pest Management" (IPM), www.schoolipm.info.
IPM is safer for children and school staff and is shown to save
money.
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