Pesticides get the caution flag

Yellow flags have Jim Brobeck seeing red.

Brobeck, a Chico resident who is active on a number of environmental issues, recently picked up his granddaughter from the Chico Boys and Girls Club and was shocked to find yellow “caution” flags waving near children who were eating and playing, he said.

The flags, which were put up by Lifescapes, a Chico landscaping firm, are used to warn people that pesticides have been used in the area.

“We’re not required to put up the flags,” said Eric German, maintenance department supervisor at Lifescapes. “We just do it to be responsible.”

Lifescapes sprays the Boys and Girls Club property with Roundup, the commonly used herbicide that is also used in city parks and around millions of homes.

Glyphosphate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is one of the most widely used weed-killers. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, glyphosphate is on the lowest level of toxicity and is not carcinogenic, but it may cause an increased breathing rate and congestion of the lungs at the acute level. Kidney damage and reproductive effects at the chronic level are also listed on the Web site as possible effects as a result of long-term exposure to, and high amounts of, the chemical, but children are not at a greater risk for harm than adults.

When used responsibly and in smaller amounts, Roundup is not a dangerous product, German said.

Staff at the Boys and Girls Club trust that the approximately 240 children who come to the building every day are safe and are not eating in areas where pesticides are applied, said Debbie LaPlant Moseley, development director at the club.

“We’re very comfortable using Lifescapes and trust them,” she explained. “We’re certainly not experts in horticulture, but we’re working with someone who is.”

Some 13 million to 20 million acres are treated with 18.7 million pounds of Roundup annually, according to the EPA’s Web site. This widespread use is what has Brobeck worried.

“Americans are so blasé to the soup of chemicals—pesticides, herbicides, insecticides,” he said. “We’re being surrounded by this chemical brew.”

Americans need to look at different options for killing weeds, like a garden hoe, in addition to limiting the areas in which children play. He said that when he asked a couple of club employees about the yellow flags, neither knew what they signified or what procedures were to be followed because of them.

He warned parents to be aware. “If there are areas where there is just bare dirt, it’s very likely the area is heavily treated,” he said. “Do not let children play in that dirt, breathe in dust from that dirt, or eat food that fell in that dirt.”

Brobeck’s not alone in his concerns.

In 2000, a group called the Safe Schools Coalition worked to get the state Legislature to pass the California Healthy Schools Act. The act mandates posting and notification of pesticide use at California school sites and also mandates implementation of integrated pest management programs, which focus on long-term pest reduction through various non-chemical techniques.

Chico Unified School District follows this practice and uses primarily mechanical means to eliminate weeds, said Kip Hansen, maintenance and operations manager for the district.

When mechanical means aren’t sufficient, maintenance staff will spray Roundup. This happens about twice a year, and the application is done only after school hours and late at night, Hansen said.

Ultimately, it’s up to all of us to be sure that pesticides are used safely or, better yet, not used at all, Brobeck said. “We need to be politically involved and insist that our parks departments change their policies on turf maintenance.”