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Pesticides:
Pesticides; child care facilities; notification

Our Position: support
Bill Number: SB1350
Sponsor: Senator Carolyn Allen
Legislative Session: 2006 Legislative Session

SB1350 requires that child care facilities use licensed applicators for pesticide application.  Furthermore, it requires that a pesticide applicator notify a child care facility at least seventy- two hours in advance of any pesticide application and requires that the Department of Health Services work with child care facilities, personnel and the pesticide applicators to develop a policy to notify parents, guardians, children, and personnel at least forty-eight hours in advance of any pesticide application.  Currently notification laws are in place for school-aged children attending schools, but not child care facilities. SB1350 requires that the licensees maintain written records for pesticide application notifications for at least thee years after the application.

Status

The bill will become law 90 days after the session ends.

Action Needed

More information

For the detailed status of the bill and to view the full text, go to http://www.azleg.state.az.us/DocumentsForBill.asp?Bill_Number=SB1350

Contact

Sandy Bahr at (602) 253-8633 or at sandy.bahr@sierraclub.org

Background

Help protect the health of Arizona children.

Please support SB1350 pesticides; child care facilities; notifications (Allen)

When it comes to pesticides, children are clearly the most vulnerable population in our society.  They are especially sensitive because for each pound of body weight, they have greater exposure to pesticides.  They are also more vulnerable because young children tend to put their fingers in their mouth and also are nearer the floor where a lot of pesticides are applied.  Their bodies are growing rapidly and are less able to detoxify and excrete pesticides and other toxic chemicals.  Most importantly infants and children have developing systems which are far more vulnerable to toxic insult.

Pesticides can have negative impacts on human health including causing damage to the nervous system, reproductive organs, lungs, and also can affect the function of the immune system, as well as cause cancer and birth defects.

Researchers (See Salam, MT, Y-F Li, B Langholz and FD Gilliland. 2003. Early Life Environmental Risk Factors for Asthma: Findings from the Children's Health Study. Environmental Health Perspectives. doi:10.1289/ehp.6662 Online 9 December 2003.)  have found that pesticide exposure can induce a poisoning effect linked to asthma.  Since the mid-1980s, asthma rates in the United States have skyrocketed to epidemic levels, particularly in young children.  In the U.S. alone, around 16 million people suffer from asthma. Asthma is a serious chronic disorder of the lungs characterized by recurrent attacks of bronchial constriction, which cause breathlessness, wheezing, and coughing. 

• Nearly 1 in 8 school-aged children have asthma. This rate is rising most rapidly in preschool-aged children.
• Asthma is the leading cause of school absenteeism due to chronic illness. Every year, asthma accounts for 14 million lost days of school nationally.
• Arizona has some of the highest (in the country) pediatric asthma exacerbations resulting in hospitalization.
• Asthma is the third-ranking cause of hospitalization among those younger than 15 years of age.
• The number of children dying from asthma increased almost threefold from 1979 to 1996.
• The estimated cost of treating asthma in those younger than 18 years old is $3.2 billion per year.
• Low-income populations, minorities, and children living in inner-cities experience disproportionately high morbidity and mortality due to asthma.

Two important studies this past summer confirm the need to act now to limit children’s exposure to pesticides. The Journal of the American Medical Association in July 2005 published a study that documents student and school employee poisoning by pesticide use at schools.  The study, Acute Illnesses Associated with Pesticide Exposure at Schools, (Vol. 294, No. 4, pp455-465), by Walter A. Alarcon, M.D. (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) et al., analyzes 2593 poisonings from 1998 to 2002 from three surveillance systems.  While the analysis finds incident rates overall of 7.4 cases per million children and 27.3 cases per million employees, the authors conclude, “These results should be considered low estimates of the magnitude of the problem because many cases of pesticide poisoning are likely not reported to surveillance systems or poisoning control centers.” The authors recommend that strategies be adopted to reduce the use of pesticides at school.  

The Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) Third National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals, also released in July 2005, includes striking new data showing widespread exposure to commonly used synthetic pyrethroid pesticides, with residues carried by over 50 percent of the population.  In addition to endocrine disrupting effects, all the pyrethroids are closely associated with respiratory illness and asthma, an illness of increasing concern affecting growing numbers of people, especially children.  

SB1350 requires that child care facilities use licensed applicators for pesticide application.  Furthermore, it requires that a pesticide applicator notify a child care facility at least seventy- two hours in advance of any pesticide application and requires that the Department of Health Services work with child care facilities, personnel and the pesticide applicators to develop a policy to notify parents, guardians, children, and personnel at least forty-eight hours in advance of any pesticide application.  Currently notification laws are in place for school-aged children attending schools, but not child care facilities. SB1350 requires that the licensees maintain written records for pesticide application notifications for at least thee years after the application.

School notification requirements have been in place for over a decade and few exemption situations are recognized.  As a result school districts often send notifications home to parents and post buildings to be treated before the pest management professional has actually determined if any treatment is necessary.  This bill incorporates sensible exemptions that will encourage the application of reduced-risk pest management practices and reduce the burden of notification and posting.  It modifies the exemptions from notification for pesticides for adult vector control to require that the oral notification be attempted at least 72 hours prior to the application.

It includes exemptions for disinfectants and swimming pool chemicals, block, gel or paste-type bait secured in an enclosed tamper-resistant bait station or placed in areas inaccessible to children; block-type, EPA category III or IV formulations of rodenticide secured in an enclosed tamper-resistant bait station and placed in area inaccessible to children; pesticides that are not regulated by the EPA such as garlic and citronella; and personal insect repellants.

Finally, SB1350 includes an $100,000 appropriation and authorization for two full time employees in order for the Structural Pesticide Control Commission to implement the program.  The dollars are appropriated from their fund – they are a 90/10 board—and would not come from the General Fund.  SB1350 passed out of the Senate 28-1-0-1. 

Supporters of SB1350 Include:

Dawn Gouge, Assistant Professor and Assistant Specialist of Urban Entomology, Department of Entomology, University of Arizona.

Cecil F. Michael, MD, FAAP; Pediatrician; Peoria, Arizona

Cynthia Jacquemart, MD, FAAP; Pediatrician; Phoenix, Arizona

Mary McGee, MD, FAAP; Pediatrician; Waddell, Arizona

Stephen West, MD, FAAP; Pediatrician; Phoenix, Arizona

Sangeeta Ojha, MD, FAAP; Pediatrician; Phoenix, Arizona

Jason Vargas, MD, FAAP; Pediatrician; Phoenix, Arizona

Crystal Palmer, CPNP; Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioner; Peoria, Arizona

John McCabe, Jr. Supervisor – Dine’ NHA Pest Management Program

American Lung Association of Arizona

Children’s Action Alliance

Arizona Public Health Association

Sierra Club – Grand Canyon Chapter

Arizona League of Conservation Voters

Familes Against Cancer and Toxics

Arizona Public Interest Research Group

For more information please contact Sandy Bahr at (602) 253-8633 or sandy.bahr@sierraclub.org.