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The Safer Pest Control Project
Healthy_Child
Thursday, July 24, 2008
When it comes to the fight against pesticides, information plays a vital role in our understanding of how to protect our health from exposure. Whether the pesticide is in food, water, or on your lawn, it is questionable whether the chemical's long-term health effects merit the short-term benefits. Farmers and others who work with pesticides at high exposure levels have demonstrably elevated rates of asthma, leukemia, and prostate cancer. But even more alarming is that half of our lifetime exposure to pesticides occurs in the first five years of our life, making children’s exposure far more significant. Just think: pound for pound, kids consume five times more fruits, vegetables, and milk than adults. Their developing systems are not yet strong enough to combat high exposure and filter out toxins as effectively as a full-grown adult. Scientific evidence exploring the potential impact of pesticides on the developing brain and body is no small worry, and warrants consumer caution.
In 1994, The Safer Pest Control Project (SPCP) was established to protect children and their families from the serious health consequences of pesticides. The organization’s aim is to reduce pesticide use and promote safe but effective alternatives for pest management. At the forefront of their enterprise is the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) service, a proven method of simple, inexpensive prevention practices that lessen harm to both people and the planet. IPM focuses on minimizing pests’ access to food, water, and hiding places, thereby addressing the cause as well as the consequence.
Of particular interest on the website are the fact sheets, which offer helpful tips and guidelines on topics ranging from laws to protect you from outdoor pesticides to the health risks of pesticides in schools and directions on how to maintain a healthy lawn.
The SPCP also offers publications, which include a 12-minute video on how to understand and promote healthy school IPM. Filmed at a Chicago-area school that has practiced IPM since 1994, the video addresses concerns about pesticide use, the basic components of an IPM program and all its advantages. In addition, two versions of a comic book, entitled “Pest Invasion,” explain how to perform the least hazardous pest control methods in a variety of settings. The comic documents one family’s successful battle against roaches and rodents in a Chicago Public Housing development. Furthermore, in order to reach a more widespread audience, most of the content on the website is offered in Spanish as well. The SPCP website offers a truly unique and all-encompassing resource, where all the solutions and alternative strategies are effectively at your fingertips.
