When Lois Gibbs was told that the pervasive illnesses among children in Love Canal, New York, were the result of a “genetically deficient gene pool,” a firestorm of activity resulted. It continues today, several decades later. From Gibbs’ organization, the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, to Beyond Pesticides and the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides, we are hearing a national call to arms to reject the notion that pesticides are safe to use. Pesticides are toxins, and toxins are meant to kill living organisms.

Unfortunately, it is the children who suffer the most. Their immune systems cannot tolerate the poisons, yet they are continually exposed to them. Texans for Alternative to Pesticides (TAP) was founded two years ago for the express purpose of reducing and eventually eliminating the use of pesticides to kill weeds along our thoroughfares, mosquitoes in our neighborhoods, and pests in our schools.

What we are asking, and what the community needs to require, is that alternative and least toxic methods be employed to counter pests. In Albany, New York, and San Francisco, California, city councils have passed ordinances directing city departments to forgo what has become the traditional use of chemical pesticides. Such alternatives as boric acid, orange oil, and cedar oil are effective repellents that do not harm children.

This is the message that TAP is carrying to school districts in the Houston area and soon to Dallas as well. Last year, TAP held an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) workshop in Houston for local school administrators, pest control applicators, and interested citizens. More than a dozen school districts were represented and many of the 50 people who attended earned continuing education credit and IPM Coordinator Training certification.

At the IPM workshops, attendees learn how to help their schools implement a successful least toxic Integrated Pest Management Program and get better, more cost-effective pest control without worrying whether the children and staff are being exposed to harmful substances.

Since 1995, school districts in Texas have been required to have an IPM program relying on methods least hazardous to human health and the environment. Consumers Unions (Austin, TX) studied seven Texas school districts to determine whether they are complying with the law. Although all thought they were, only one received an “A” for full compliance, with several receiving Ds and Fs. To help school districts and pest control operators better protect our children, TAP sponsored workshops to instruct and illustrate the ways to utilize preventive measures and safer treatments. Even low-level exposure to pesticides can be harmful. Thus reducing unnecessary exposure and increasing program effectiveness is the goal.

We face a potential problem when a school district uses Roundup, a well-known weed killer and poison, to burn in the yard lines for the football field. When they allowed the football team to practice on that field 15 minutes later, we encountered a real health problem. From experiences like that, from the residues that remain on children’s desks from overnight pesticide spraying, and from the use of poisons in cafeterias, we are in dire need of promulgating new means of pest control.

TAP’s mission is to seek the reduction of the use of pesticides in homes, schools, and public places. With the US Environmental Protection Agency taking the lead in banning residential use of Dursban last year and Diazinon next year, we have a real opportunity to get the attention of the public. In Houston, TAP is planning its approach to the Public Works and the Parks and Recreation Departments as well as working with the City Council. TAP continues to work with other organizations, from the Citizens Environmental Coalition and the Unidos Contra Environmental Racism to school districts and national organizations. All share the common goal of protecting our youth, our homes, our community, and our environment. Little is more precious than that.