Integrated Pest Management Can Reduce Pests, Pesticides In Schools

February 18, 1998

GAINESVILLE—When a child on a class picnic found rat poison packed in his school lunch instead of his Fun Fruitables packet, state school officials acknowledged that pesticides on campuses could be a problem.

“We almost had a poisoning,” said Eric Althouse, of the state Department of Education. “We’ve got millions of kids and these freak accidents can happen.

“The only safe thing to do is to reduce the use of pesticides around kids,” said Althouse.

University of Florida entomologists agree and are coordinating a statewide program of Integrated Pest Management for Schools, or School IPM.

“Parents and school officials alike realize that children can’t learn very well with cockroaches crawling across their desks or ants crawling up their legs and biting them,” said Professor Phil Koehler, an urban entomologist at UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

While parents don’t want their children attending school with rats, cockroaches and ants, they don’t want them exposed to the nerve poisons used against those pests, either. And schools are becoming more attuned to the liability they face in storing and using pesticides around children, Koehler said.

School IPM is designed to reduce pests, and pesticides, on school campuses. The hazards posed by pests should not be underestimated, Koehler said. Cockroaches, ants and rodents are the top three pest problems in schools, and each carries its own threat.

For example, he said cockroaches are the No. 1 cause of asthma in urban youths. Fire ants are a hazard in schoolyards and cause two or three deaths in Florida each year with their stings. And rodents transmit diseases, particularly the deadly hanta virus.

School officials trying to combat these problems turned to pesticides in the last few decades. In a 1996 survey of Florida school districts, Koehler found that nearly all schools sprayed pesticides routinely, whether roaches, ants and rats were spotted or not.

But pest control presents a dilemma for schools, said Clay Scherer, a doctoral researcher and chairman of the state’s School IPM Advisory Committee. The National Academy of Science reports that children may be more susceptible to pesticides than adults because of their small size.

“In the same classroom, you may have a child whose parents demand that he be able to go to school in an environment free of pesticides and another child whose parents demand he able to attend school without being exposed to pests,” Scherer said. “It’s a challenging discussion because there are hazards posed by pesticides and pests. IPM offers a balance.”

The way IPM works is simple.

IPM first emphasizes preventing pests by increasing sanitation and decreasing the resources pests need to survive. Then, if pests become a problem, nonchemical methods are put in place. Pesticides are used only as the last resort, with the least hazardous material selected and precisely applied to maximize control and minimize exposure.

Routine inspections replace routine spraying. Teachers and staff use a sighting log to help inspectors locate infestations and eliminate them. If pesticides become necessary, notice is given and they are applied only to areas out of reach of children or staff.

In Manatee County, one of the first to adopt the program, IPM coordinator Dwayne Riedel said IPM has been the key to making schools safer. “Proper training, inspecting, putting out baits and better sanitation practices all make a huge difference,” he said.

Florida is the first state to coordinate IPM efforts in public schools voluntarily. In a handful of other states, IPM was started after a pesticide disaster, Koehler said. In Louisiana, for example, the state spent about $4 million cleaning pesticides out of a school before adopting IPM.

In Florida, school officials have embraced IPM wholeheartedly, Koehler said. One district even predicted the program would save $1.5 million in liability and legal fees after its pest control program came under fire. The number using routine spraying has dropped from 75 percent in 1996 to 40 percent a year later, and most of the remaining districts say they will adopt IPM after their current pest control contracts expire.

“Florida is definitely setting the standard for the country in IPM,” Koehler said.

Although school IPM has not been around long enough for pest control companies to know whether it will increase or decrease their business, the companies welcome the innovation, Koehler said.

“They are excited about the program and see the school districts trying to purchase their knowledge and not just their pesticides,” Koehler said.

Parents and school officials who want to know more can check out the program’s Web site, designed by UF entomologist Thomas Fasulo with a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Southeastern region. Although designed for Florida, the site has been getting national attention that could make IPM a nationwide movement. The Web site provides a step-by-step guide to using IPM in schools, complete with all the necessary forms, and can be found at http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~schoolipm/.