INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT (IPM) IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS LAW

What You Need to Know to Protect your Children and You

MPN Reports:
Are we passing the grade

Assessing MD Schools
Compliance with the Law

MD Dept. of Agriculture’s Failure to Comply with the Law

Pesticides are a Last Resort!

This law limits the use o f pesticides in an around public schoools. It says that pesticides can be used ony after all other non toxic choices have been exhausted or are unreasonable.

The bill dfines IPM as, "A managed pest control program i which methods are integrated and used to keep pests from causing economic, health related or aesthetic injury through the utilization of site or pest inspections, pest population miniotring, evaluating the need for control and the use of one or more pest control methods including sanitations, structural repair, non-chemical methods and, when non-toxic options are unresaonable or have been exhausted, pesticides in order to: a-minimize the use of pesticides and minimize the risk to human health and the environment associated with pesticide applications.

At the start of the school year all parents and school staff must be given the school's pest control plan. They must also be given a list of pesticides that may be used during the school year.

If Pesticides are Used in Your School

Elementary schools

All parents, guardians and staff must be notified at least 24 hours in advance when pesticides are to be used. They must be notified within 24 hours after they were used, if it was an emergency situation. This does not include bait stations.

Public middle and high schools

All parents, guardians, students and staff have the right to sign up to be notified about the use of pesticides during the school year. If they sign up they must be notified 24 hours. i advance of the use of pesticides. They must be told within 24 hours after they were used dur to an emergency.

All Schools

At least one week prior to the space spraying of a pesticide, All parents, guardians and school emplyoees must be notified about the upcoming application.

Schools must provide a means of in-school notification before a bait station is used in the school. The school must include a sign posted on the door of the room i which the bait station is placed.

Notices to Parents, Guardians and Staff about pesticide use must include:

• the common name of the pesticide
• the location of the pesticide application, the planned date and the time of application
• some of the possible health effects of the pesticides being used (based on the material safety data sheet of te pesticide to be applied), and the following statement from the US EPA's office of Pesticide Programs: "Where possible, persons who are potentially more sensitive such as pregnant women and infnats (less than two years old) should avoid unnecessary pesticide exposure."

If your school is not fully complying with the law, please report this to the school principal, the MD Department of Agriculture at 410-841-5700 and please contact the Maryland Pesticide Network at 410-849-3909.

MD Environmental Law Clinic OpEd

From Environmental Law at Maryland (Winter/Spring 2007), a newsletter from the University of Maryland Environmental Law Program. By Corianne Iacovelli and Kerry E. Rodgers

MDA Should Provide Better Guidance on Pesticide Use in Schools

The Maryland Department of Agriculture has a new Secretary, Roger Richardson, but it still needs new guidance manuals for its Integrated Pest Management-in-Schools program. Nearly eight years after the General Assembly passed Maryland's Integrated Pest Management-in-Schools law "IPM-in-Schools"), the Department's guidance manuals fail to accurately reflect the law's requirement that pesticides be used in public schools only as a last resort. The manuals are supposed to interpret the law and instruct school pest managers and administrators as to the proper way to control pests. Unfortunately, the current manuals present the schools' legal responsibilities in a misleading way, causing Maryland's schoolchildren to be unnecessarily exposed to toxic pesticides and inducing false reliance on the protection of this public health law.

Maryland's IPM-in-Schools law, enacted in 1999, requires public schools to implement IPM programs that minimize pesticide use and lower the risk to human health and the environment associated with pesticide application. Pesticide exposure can cause health effects such as cancer, nerve damage, and asthma, and children are especially vulnerable during growth and development. IPM combines different methods of pest control, such as surveillance for pests using traps, good sanitation, and caulking. When non-toxic options are unreasonable or have been exhausted, pest managers can then consider the use of pesticides.

While the law deemed pesticides a last resort, the legislature realized that schools might not be able to completely eliminate the use of pesticides and required notice of their application. At the beginning of the school year, schools must notify all parents, guardians, and staff of their IPM programs. This notice must explain the school's IPM program, list any pesticides that could potentially be used in the school building or on school grounds, and include a statement that product labels or a safety data sheet is available for review by a parent, guardian, staff member, or student. The notice must also identify the school's designated contact person who keeps information on the IPM program, pest control practices and pesticide application. During the year, schools must send a similar notice to parents or guardians of newly enrolled students and to new staff members.

In addition, the law provides for notice regarding any pesticide application that occurs during the school year. Elementary schools must give all parents, guardians, and staff written notice at least 24 hours prior to a pesticide application or within 24 hours after an emergency application. Middle and high schools must notify those parents, guardians, and staff who requested to be put on a notification list by phone, direct contact, or written notice.

Despite revisions in 2006, the Department's manuals continue to inaccurately reflect the law and contain information that frustrates the legislature's intent to minimize the use of pesticides in schools. Generally, the manuals present IPM as an optional method of pest control, fail to incorporate statutory language, and contain ambiguous statements regarding IPM implementation and legal obligations.

Some manuals confuse readers by suggesting that pesticides are acceptable in situations other than where they are the last resort, or that pesticides are a necessary part of an IPM program. A growing number of schools around the country have proven that it is possible to prevent and manage pests without the use of chemical pesticides.

Other manuals suggest that IPM is an alternative to pesticide application. By representing IPM as an alternative, rather than the law, in a guide written for pest managers, the Department undermines the IPM-in-Schools law. As a result, pest managers lack adequate guidance as to the proper role of pesticides in public schools and pesticides are used too often, that is, illegally, in public schools.

With a new Administration and a new Secretary of Agriculture, it is time for the manuals to be revised so that they properly implement the IPM-in-Schools law. Maryland's public school children have a right to be free from unwarranted pesticide use and the risks pesticides pose to their health. The public has a right to accurate guidance from its government.

Kerry E. Rodgers directs the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Maryland School of Law, where she is a Visiting Associate Professor of Law. Her e-mail address is krodgers@law.umaryland.edu. Corianne Iacovelli is a Student Attorney in the Environmental Law Clinic, which is seeking better IPM-in-Schools guidance on behalf of the Maryland Pesticide Network. Reprinted from Environmental Law at Maryland (Winter/Spring 2007), published by the University of Maryland Environmental Law Program.

The guidance manuals are available at http://www.mda.state.md.us/, by entering "IPM schools" in the search box. For more information, contact your school's designated Contact Person or the Maryland Department of Agriculture's Pesticide Regulation Section at (410) 841-5710.