The Challenge Exposure to pesticides poses actual or potential health threats, especially to children. The exposures come from many sources including schools. Nondietary environmental sources of exposure include air, dirt, indoor surfaces, lawns, and pets. Pesticides can cause a variety of health problems including damage to the nervous system, cancer and interference with human growth and development. The NAS Committee, while acknowledging the improved crop yield from the application of pesticides, gives some details about the risks associated with pesticides.
Profound differences exist between children and adults.
Infants and children are growing and developing. Their metabolic rates are more rapid than those of adults. There are differences in their ability to activate, detoxify, and excrete xenobiotic compounds. All these differences can affect the toxicity of pesticides in infants and children, and for these reasons the toxicity of pesticides is frequently different in children and adults. Although effective alternatives to pesticides exist, and despite the actual or potential harms associated with pesticide applications, toxic pesticides are applied in and around schools.