|
Why School IPM: Health
Issues
Both pests and pesticides are undesirable in the school setting.
Pest
Issues -- Pests are more than a nuisance in
schools. Rodents, cockroaches and flies have been
implicated in the transmission of food contaminants and
diseases and pest byproducts (hair, shed skins, and feces) have
been linked with an increase in asthma in children {4}.
Pesticide Issues
--
In traditional pest control, pesticides were the first line of defense against
pests and were regularly applied when actual pest problems existed and
to prevent future pest problems from occurring. The problem with this
approach is that pesticides
are not completely innocuous; they have the potential to harm
humans. Pesticide exposure to children is
potentially more harmful than adult exposure because (children are still growing and
developing) {36, 37}.
|
