THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume IX, Issue # 78, May 3, 2007
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
PESTICIDE-FREE SCHOOLS: FULL OF RATS & ROACHES?
By Alex A. Avery & Dennis T. Avery
POLITICAL IDEOLOGY, PROPAGANDA, PUBLIC POLICY, & HUMAN HEALTH: POLITICAL ENVIRONMENTALISM, THE
ANTI-PESTICIDE MOVEMENT, THEIR PUBLIC POLICY AGENDA, & THE THREAT THEY POSE TO HUMAN HEALTH -- POLITICAL
ENVIRONMENTALISTS
& ANTI-PESTICIDE ACTIVISTS WHO OPPOSE THE USE OF PESTICIDES IN AMERICA'S SCHOOLS WOULD ELIMINATE
PROTECTION OF SCHOOL CHILDREN FROM THE VERY DANGEROUS & LIFE-THREATENING DISEASES SPREAD BY RATS, MICE,
& ROACHES -- NO EVIDENCE THAT PESTICIDES APPROVED FOR USE IN SCHOOLS CONSTITUTE ANY DANGER TO HUMANS
FULL STORY:
Our local radio station is encouraging parents to protest the use of pesticides in our schools. The station is broadcasting
“public service announcements” saying pesticides used in the schools are “linked” to cancer, asthma, and lower IQ scores
among the kids. Probably you are hearing the same announcements on your radio stations. They’re produced by
Earthworks, a consortium of eco-groups, and sponsored by The Ad Council.
Pesticide fears are clearly mainstream these days. The reality is that we worry about pesticides because so few of today’s
parents have actually seen the diseases that rats, mice, and roaches have historically brought with them. Public health
officials are certain that, if vermin took over today’s schools, as they took over 19th-century cities before modern pesticides
were developed, our children would not be safe in schools from diseases we have been able to forget.
The dried urine and feces from rats and mice can spread such diseases as leptospirosis, rat-bite fever, and at least one form
of meningitis. Rats are the historic vehicle for epidemics of Black Plague. Cockroaches can spread typhoid fever, dysentery,
gastroenteritis, and carry in their guts the bacteria that cause salmonella and staphylococcus infections.
Nor is there any evidence that the pesticides approved for use in schools pose any dangers to the kids — or anybody else.
The source materials cited by Earthworks don’t provide any peer-reviewed documentation of pesticide harm. Their
statements are full of weasel-words such as “linked,” with the linkage perhaps just somebody’s printed accusation. Or they
say “researchers hypothesize,” which is the professional’s word for guessing.
Earthworks says researchers “hypothesize that pesticides are among the preventable causes of asthma in children.” In fact,
the evidence says it’s the discarded casings of cockroaches that are a major cause of asthma. If you don’t control the
roaches, you get more asthma attacks among the kids.
The Environmental Protection Agency once told us we could control cockroaches just by taping up our windows, doors and
the cracks along the baseboards — but I never found anyone who believed that. If you can’t control cockroaches at home
by taping up the cracks around the house, don’t expect it to work in a public building. Especially with eggs sacks hiding in
lunch sacks and grocery bags, just waiting for a free ride into the building.
Even uncontrolled weeds in the schoolyards pose danger. More ragweed means more allergy attacks. But the anti-pesticide
activists oppose even the use of herbicides such as glyphosate, which health authorities say is about as toxic as tea and
talcum powder.
However, the members of the Pesticide Action Network apparently cannot emotionally tolerate the use of any pesticide
anywhere, any time, no matter what dangers to our children they prevent. We should be able to rely on the Ad Council to
check out their “public service” announcements. In this case they should take another look at the Earthworks’ agenda.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Human Health -- Science, Ethics, & Public Policy
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Dennis T. Avery is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C., and is the Director of the Institute's Center for
Global Food Issues (www.cgfi.org). Formerly he was a senior analyst for the United States
Department of State. He is the co-author, with atmospheric physicist Fred Singer, of the book, Unstoppable Global Warming:
Every 1500 Years (Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006).
Alex A. Avery is Director of Research and Education at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Global Food Issues and author of
The Truth About Organic Foods.
Readers may write Alex or Dennis Avery at Post Office Box 202, Churchville, Virginia, 24421. Email: cgfi@rica.net
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity