SEPA (School Environmental Protection Act)
School Pesticide Reform Coalition
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Robert Kusel: Background Information
I am a 2nd term school board member in Skokie, Illinois. I am writing on my own behalf, and I am solely responsible for the opinions expressed. I am not writing in any official capacity, nor as a representative of District #73. I am writing as a parent who happens to be a board member, and whose opinions have been informed by school board service.
I first became concerned with pesticide usage as it pertained to children’s health when I read a 1995 article in the New York Times[1] about a study that linked home yard/lawn use of herbicides and pesticides with a four fold increased risk of children developing certain cancers. As a parent, I decided to seek less hazardous means of maintaining our lawn, and attended a workshop in natural methods.
Later that year, I was elected to the East Prairie District #73 Board of Education. At a subsequent meeting, I noticed an invoice from a lawn care company for treatment of our school grounds. I requested a copy of the material safety data sheet for the compound being applied, and forwarded it to an environmental scientist. She found that it included a potential human carcinogen, and we as a board decided to cease spraying our lawns.
I was appointed to an environmental risks sub-committee, and it was during my service on that committee, while conducting a national policy search, that I learned about IPM. As a result of my inquiries and interest, I was asked to serve on an Illinois task force regarding children’s health and pesticides. [2]
One of the findings of the task force was that legislation mandating IPM use in schools was necessary if children’s health was truly to be protected. I originally took issue with that position, but as the task force went about its work, I became convinced that it was indeed appropriate.
Following my work on the task force, I was part of the team that lobbied our state legislature for the amendment mandating IPM in schools. The new law passed, effective August 2000, and it has dramatically increased the number of schools practicing IPM in Illinois.
Later that year, as a means of ensuring that IPM worked in Illinois, a colleague and I from the task force formed a company, IPM Systems. We work with schools to facilitate quick and successful IPM implementation.
Additionally, we have been certified by the Illinois Department of Public Health as providers of continuing education for pest control operators.
We are currently being considered as service providers by the USEPA, via the Illinois Department of Agriculture, to implement a pilot outdoor IPM program in schools and park districts throughout Illinois. The pending federal legislation will not affect this grant.
[1] Home Pesticide Use Linked to Child Cancer 2/27/95
[2] Safer Pest Control Project (SPCP)– July 1998