SEPA (School Environmental Protection Act)
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By Laurence Arnold
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) (11-30-01) New Jersey Sen. Robert Torricelli said he is "disgusted" that House Republicans defeated his effort to enact the first federal restrictions on pesticides in public schools.
House members of a House-Senate conference narrowly voted down the measure Friday during final work on a broad education plan that lawmakers hope to present to President Bush by the end of the year.
Torricelli, D-N.J., brokered a compromise earlier this year between the pest-control industry and anti-pesticide environmentalists after weeks of negotiations. The compromise would have required public schools to notify parents about the use of bug-killing chemicals and states to develop a school pest-management plan that considers alternatives to toxic sprays. It would have prohibited the use of pesticides in an occupied area of a school and the use of certain pesticides in any area that will be used within 24 hours.
"This is something that should have had no controversy," Torricelli said. "It's a simple requirement that a school district look for nontoxic pesticide alternatives when possible. There are children playing on football fields, and students eating in cafeterias, that were sprayed with toxic materials immediately before they entered the room."
He said there was no explanation for the defeat of the provision "except the influence of the chemical industry itself."
Jay Feldman, executive director of the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides, agreed. "This bill died today because the chemical-pesticide industry failed to stand up to protect children and make their voice heard," Feldman said. "Mr. Torricelli has the right to be very angry. He had a face-to-face agreement with the pesticide industry."
Jay Vroom, president of the American Crop Protection Association, said his organization did support the compromise early on but became less enthusiastic about the provision as lawmakers, school groups and other opponents made their objections known. "We had hoped there would be some way to address those (concerns) and keep this issue in the education bill," Vroom said. "We recognize that politicians on both sides of the issue are important allies of ours, and we want to keep working on it."
Republicans in the House said the provision "would slap America's public schools with a new, unjustified, federal mandate." The National School Boards Association opposed the bill. And some members of the House Agriculture Committee said the proposed rules had not been adequately reviewed by appropriate federal agencies.
Pesticide opponents estimate there are some 50 insecticides, herbicides and fungicides commonly used in and around schools. They say some can cause reproductive problems, neurological problems, kidney and liver damage and cancer.
The pesticide restrictions were added June 19 to the Senate version of the education bill. They were not in the House version, however, so their fate was left to the Senate-House conference committee that considered the provision Friday. After hearing a presentation by Torricelli, the senators voted 14-11 to approve his pesticide provision. The House members voted 7-6 against it. The House vote was along party lines. Among Democrats voting yes was Rep. Rob Andrews, D-N.J. Republican Rep. Marge Roukema left the meeting room during the pesticide debate and did not vote. Had she voted yes, the 7-7 tie still would have derailed Torricelli's measure.
Roukema's office did not respond to telephone messages Friday afternoon.
Copyright 2001 By The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.