'Ban Pesticide-use in Public Parks and School Grounds', Say Campaigners

Tom Levitt
The Ecologist
Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:22 UTC

© The Ecologist

At present children can be playing on a sports pitch which has been sprayed with pesticides minutes earlier

Awareness of pesticide-use in public areas used by children is low but the health dangers demand our attention

The widespread use of pesticides in public parks, gardens, sports grounds and children's playgrounds should be banned, say campaigners.

By 2012 the UK is required under new EU laws to have created a national action plan for reducing pesticides. The EU's directive also requires member states to ensure the use of pesticides is minimized or prohibited in certain specific areas.

However, campaigners say the ban should be compulsory rather than voluntary.

A recent report by the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) and PAN UK estimated children may be exposed to at least four potentially cancer-causing pesticides and several others with serious health impacts.

Currently, according to PAN UK, children can be playing on a sports pitch which has been sprayed with pesticides just minutes earlier.

Two countries have already taken steps to introduce such bans. Denmark has reduced pesticide-use in public areas by 80 per cent since the 1990s although golf clubs remain higher than average users having negotiated smaller reduction targets. Three cities in Belgium - Grobbendonk, Hasselt and Ghent - have banned pesticides from streets, parks and cemeteries but not yet from football pitches.

Switzerland banned the use of herbicides on roofs, balconies, roads, squares and has plans to extend this to public parks. In Canada, the province of Ontario has banned pesticide use on lawns and parks.

HEAL and PAN are now both putting pressure on other EU member states to follow suit and introduce bans or restrictions in the action plans they are required to submit to the EU Commission before 2012.

'A lot of the focus has previously been on pesticides in agriculture but we are not really talking about pesticide use in parks and schools. We want to get health groups and people who have been affected by pesticides involved in this campaign,' said HEAL policy adviser Anne Stauffer.

Useful Links

The 'Sick of Pesticides' website

Pesticide Action Network (PAN) [PDF]

Comment: For more information about the serious health effects associated with pesticides spraying, especially in children, read the following articles:

Research Links Pesticides with ADHD in Children
Study finds pesticide link to childhood leukemia
Pesticide Susceptibility In Children Lasts Longer Than Expected
Wide Range of Diseases Linked to Pesticides
Contractors Using Dangerous Pesticides in U.K. Schools

The following article: Farm Workers and Allies Ask Government to Protect Kids From Toxic Pesticide Drift discusses the issue of pesticide spraying in California and what campaigners are doing to raise awareness about 'pesticide drift' and the toxic effects of pesticides on children:

The public interest law firms Earthjustice and Farmworker Justice filed a petition asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to set safety standards protecting children who grow up near farms from the harmful effects of pesticide 'drift' - the toxic spray or vapor that travels from treated fields. The Petition to the EPA includes immediate no-spray buffer zones around homes, schools, day care centers for most toxic pesticides.
...
Children are especially vulnerable to pesticide exposures both because their smaller bodies cannot break down toxins as well as adults, and because their developmental processes are prone to being derailed - even by very low-level exposure," explains Dr. Margaret Reeves, Senior Scientist for Pesticide Action Network. "The particular pesticides we're finding in our drift catching and biomonitoring results are some of the worst: chlorpyrifos, diazinon, endosulfan...these are associated with serious short- and long-term health effects. They are also entirely unnecessary."

One of the pesticides identified as being so dangerous that the groups have asked EPA to adopt immediate no-spray buffer zone is chlorpyrifos - initially developed as a nerve toxin by the Nazis. The short term effects of exposure to chlorpyrifos have been likened to a chemically-induced flu: chest tightness, blurred vision, headaches, coughing and wheezing, weakness, nausea and vomiting, coma, seizures, and even death.