SEPA (School Environmental Protection Act)
School Pesticide Reform Coalition
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School Environment Protection Act of 2005
Bill
Summary
The School Environment Protection Act of 2005 (SEPA)
provides basic levels of protection for children and school staff from
the use of pesticides in public school buildings and on school grounds.
Children need better protection from toxic chemical exposure while at school. According to the National Academy of Sciences report, Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children, children are among the least protected population group when it comes to pesticide exposure. The report finds that EPA generally lacks data on children necessary to protect them. Due to their small size, greater intake of air and food relative to body weight, developing organ systems and other unique characteristics, children are at higher risk than adults to pesticide exposure. Thirty-three states have taken some action to step in and provide protective action to address pesticide use in, around or near their schools. These include a mixture of pesticide restrictions and parental notification and posting of signs before certain pesticides are used. However, the state protection is uneven across the country and children in seventeen states are provided no protection at all.
Safer practices. The legislation requires that the safest methods of pest control are used in school buildings and on school grounds to protect children. As a first step, it requires public schools to use an Integrated Pest Management Plan (IPMP) for pest control that only uses lowest toxicity pesticides. IPMPs relies on a combination of methods that address sanitation, structural repair, mechanical measures, biological controls and other non-chemical methods inside buildings and additional approaches for turf and ornamental plan management that build healthy soil and natural resistance to pests.
General notification. At the beginning of the school year, schools must distribute information to parents on their integrated pest management program, any pesticide that may be used during the school year, and the name of a contact person who will have hazard information on the chemicals.
Least toxic pesticides. The legislation generally excludes from use in schools pesticides that are determined by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to cause cancer, mutations, birth defects, reproductive dysfunction, neurological and immune system effects, endocrine system disruption, and those pesticides rated as acutely and moderately toxic. Space spraying for discharging pesticides into the air throughout the school is prohibited. Specific pesticides are identified as acceptable under the definition, including boric acid, silica gels, diatomaceous earth, nonvolatile insect and rodent baits in tamper resistant containers, microbe-based insecticides, botanical insecticides (not including synthetic pyrethroids) without toxic synergists, and biological controls.
Pesticide use. A school may use a conventional pesticide, as long as the area of application is unoccupied during the treatment. For applications of pesticides via baseboard spraying, broadcast spraying, tenting or fogging, the treatment area must remain unoccupied for the following 24 hours, unless the pesticide product label states a specific reentry interval. Specific notification requirements must be provided if a pesticide, other than those exempted from notification, is applied at a school.
Notification of pesticide use. If a school, after ultizing IPM and least toxic pesticides, determines that a pest cannot be controlled, the school may use conventional pesticides, provided that the school staff and parents of children in the school are notified 72 hours prior to the use of the pesticide. Notification must include the common and trade name, a description of potential adverse effects, a description of the location and reason for application.
Information on pesticide use. Each local educational agency is required to designate a contact person. The contact person maintains information about pesticide applications, acts as a contact for inquires, makes pesticide material safety data sheets, labels, EPA fact sheets, and any final official EPA information related to the pesticide available to the public.
Posting of Notification Signs. In addition, the legislation requires that signs are posted 72 hours in advance of the pesticide application and remain in place for 72 hours after the pesticide application. In the case of notification and posting for outdoor pesticide use, three application dates in chronological order must be provided and the application may take place on subsequent dates if the preceding date is cancelled due to weather. Signs are required to be posted at a central location noticeable to individuals entering the building and at the proposed site of application.
Emergency use provision. The legislation allows for the emergency use of pesticides when the immediate health and safety of children are being threatened. In this case, pre-notification requirements of the legislation are waived and schools are to provide notice of the application to the individuals listed on the registry within 24 hours of pesticide use and post notification signs immediately following the application. The notice must include information required under regular notice as well as a description of the reasons requiring the application to be an emergency.
Legislation does not preempt states or localities. A state or locality can exceed the provisions of this act. States or localities that already have policies that meet or exceed this act can continue with their implementation.
Integrated pest management trust fund. Where there is non-compliance the legislation established an Integrated Pest Management Trust Fund that can be doled out to states for activities surrounding the education regarding or establishment of an IPMP.
National School IPM Advisory Board. The legislation establishes a 12- member National School IPM Advisory Board to oversee (i) the implementation of the act, (ii) standards for use of least toxic pesticides, (iii) any future proposals to expand the list of least toxic pesticides, (iv) proposed restrictions of pesticides that may endanger children's health, and (v) a public review and comment process regarding pesticide uses affected by this act. The board includes parents, public health care and medical professionals, state IPM coordinators, independent IPM specialists, environmental and children's health advocacy groups, teachers and other school personnel and a trade organization representing pest control operators.
Michele
Roberts, Project Director or Jay Feldman, Executive Director
Beyond Pesticides/National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides
701 E Street, S.E. · Washington, DC 20003 · (202) 543-5450
mroberts@beyondpesticides.org
· www.beyondpesticides.org