From: Kagan Owens <[log in to unmask]>
Beyond Pesticides/National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides
Date: Thu, 31 May 2001
Subject: Sign-On: Fed. School Pest. Mgmt. Leg. Needs Your Support
Dear Friends and Activists,
We are writing to you to:
1) inform you about negotiated school pest management language to amend the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA);
2) request that your organization sign-on in support of this amendment; and
3) receive your feedback/comments on the negotiated language.
After weeks of negotiations with industry, we are extremely close to
reaching a final agreement regarding federal school pesticide use and
notification legislation. We found it important to sit down with industry
and reach an agreement, because otherwise, federal school pesticide
legislation would go nowhere, or an amendment to ESEA on this issue would be
so weak and meaningless, that it would hinder all future probabilities for
good legislation to be introduced in the future. We think it is important to
get something meaningful attached as an amendment to ESEA (S.1) because ESEA
is an excellent vehicle for moving this issue forward. If we did not attempt
to attach this amendment, school pest mgmt legislation would be stuck in the
Senate Agriculture Committee as the School Environment Protection Act (SEPA)
was during the last Congressional session. The whole school pest management
issue has great momentum, and the agreed upon language is a minimum standard
for state's to build on. As matter of political reality, there is no way for
legislation to pass without an agreement with industry because of the hold
industry has on Congress. NOTE: This negotiated language is not SEPA - but
new negotiated language - please see the requirements of the amendment
below.
Generally the negotiated Torricelli school pest management amendment to
ESEA:
1) requires universal notification 3 times per year (at the beginning of the
school year, midyear, and once for summer session); notice provided via the
universal notification includes a precautionary risk statement
2) establishes a registry requiring 24 hour pre-notification to those any
parent, guardian or staff member that signs up; notice provided via the
registry includes a precautionary risk statement and information on the
pesticides adverse health effects
3) requires signs to be posted 24 hours prior to the pesticide application
and remain posted for 24 hours
4) requires local education agency's to implement school pest management
policy as developed by state and EPA approved (school pest management
--replaces the term IPM-- is defined as "a pest mgmt system that
a) eliminates or mitigates economic, health, and aesthetic damage caused by
pests; b) uses integrated methods, site or pest inspections, pest
populations monitoring, an evaluation of the need for pest mgmt; and
considers all alternative pest mgmt strategies including one or more of the
following: sanitation, structural repair, mechanical and biological
controls, other non-chemical methods, and pesticides, which minimizes risk
to human health and the environment.)
5) does not preempt state or local school policy if meets or exceeds
provisions of the act
6) requires treatment area to be unoccupied when any pesticide is being
applied and 24 hour reentry period for sprays, foggers, tenting for all
products in which the label does not specify a reentry interval
7) exempts antimicrobials and baits, gels, pastes applied in areas out of
reach of children from the notice via registry and posting requirements. The
universal notice will state that baits, gels and pastes may be used by the
school and notice will not be provided, and additional info on these
products is available by contacting the contact person.
Please sign your *organization* on as supporters of this important piece of
legislation.
Name:
Title:
Organization:
City, State:
Phone Number:
Email Address:
All feedback regarding the federal legislation is greatly appreciated. If
you are unable to sign-on in support - please send me an email
([log in to unmask]) with your comments.
Also, please contact your Senators - urging them to support Senator
Torricelli's school pest management amendment. To find the contact
information for your U.S. Senators see
http://www.senate.gov/senators/senator_by_state.cfm. Letters can be sent
either by mail, fax, or email. Please be sure to also send me a copy of your
letter - which will double our efforts to get your comments heard.
If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Kagan Owens
Program Director
Beyond Pesticides/National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides
(NCAMP)
701 E Street, S.E., Suite 200
Washington, DC 20003
phone: 202-543-5450
fax: 202-543-4791
www.beyondpesticides.org
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