EPA will be required, with the assistance of a 12-member public advisory board, to phase out the most hazardous pesticides in schools. The goal, under the statute, is to provide for a safe learning environment. We are here to tell you that this can be done. The policy says that portable vacuums rather than pesticide sprays shall be used for initial cleanouts and that trapping devices rather than pesticide sprays shall be used for indoor fly control wherever appropriate. SEPA will bring all schools up to standard.
Children are at the heart of the issue.
In terms of the legislation as it affects children, it should be recognized that our nation's most precious resource is our children. And yet, we as a nation allow the poisoning of our children. Sometimes the effects are vivid and dramatic, as captured by studies linking elevated arates of different types of childhood cancers to pesticide use in the home. In other instances, the effects may be more subtle and develop in the form of learning disabilities or problems with sexual physiological development. The central problem is that we, as a nation, have not decided to protect the most vulnerable.