Board denies pesticide notices Compromise poses school sign-up plan

BANGOR -Parents trying to force schools to notify families whenever pesticides are to be used on classrooms or playgrounds lost their fight Friday, when the state’s Board of Pesticide Control decided not to include universal notification in its new rule governing pesticide use in Maine schools.

The board, instead, supported a compromise that would require a letter to be mailed to parents at the beginning of each school year, explaining the school’s pest management policies and offering the chance to be placed on a registry of families who are particularly concerned about pesticide use and wish to be informed of upcoming applications.

“The most important statement in all of these letters – and it was reiterated again and again – was that parents don’t know that pesticides are going to be applied in their schools,” said board member Mike Dann.

The new rule would require all schools to draft an integrated pest management plan – a guideline for how to keep a school clean and safe using the mildest methods possible. Integrated pest management starts with preventive measures and prescribes a series of steps leading up to pesticide application.

Pest management plans would be required for every problem schools encounter, from mold to head lice to rodents – a huge endeavor. Yet few school administrators have commented on the proposal.

“Universal notification certainly got a lot of support [from parents], but I’m concerned that the school community doesn’t know about this,” said board member Dr. Carol Eckert.

Without input from schools, board members were not comfortable mandating a universal notification program on top of the new IPM plans.

“I can see a lot of frustrated administrators,” said board member Clyde Walton.

The board will likely vote on the integrated pest management rule at its next meeting, Friday, Sept. 9. The new regulation would take effect for the beginning of the 2003-04 school year.

In other business:

The Board of Pesticide Control asked the Attorney General’s Office to prosecute a Washington County firm for spraying agricultural pesticides too near an organic farm in Orland.

Last summer, a pilot employed by Maine Helicopters, Inc. in Whitefield had been hired to apply pesticides to a blueberry field owned by G.M. Allen’s of Orland. However, on July 15, 2001, witnesses reported seeing the helicopter spraying a pesticide called Guthion onto a strip of barrier land between the Allen farm and a nearby organic blueberry crop owned by Holly and Thomas Taylor-Lash.

Staff member Henry Jennings called the case “deja vu” Friday, citing several recent cases in which communication broke down between landowners of differing opinions. The blueberry farm and the helicopter company were aware of the organic farm, however, a new pilot at the controls was not.

The Taylor-Lashes were outside at the time of the spraying, smelled the chemical and felt ill. They became concerned that pesticides had drifted onto their organic crop and contacted the board. Subsequent testing of the barrier land indicated the presence of between 9 and 11 parts per billion of the pesticide – enough to constitute a violation of the Maine law that governs pesticide drift.

The board also voted to approve the use of a new pesticide called thymol for the control of mites in honeybee hives.

Beekeepers want to try the product because mites have developed resistances to several of the more common pesticides currently used, said state apiarist Anthony Jadczak.

Thymol has been used in Europe for the past decade but has not yet been approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association has not yet made a determination about the product’s safety.

The application for pesticide registration is currently being processed – often a lengthy matter – so the EPA recommended that individual states approve exemptions so that beekeepers may try the pesticide this fall.

On Friday, Maine became the first state in the nation to approve the pesticide.