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At least 14 presehools, elementary schools and high schools are situated near vineyards where pesticides were used regularly during the 1995 school year. Children attending schools near vineyards which use pesticides are at risk from airborne exposure to toxic chemicals during or after application, which takes place nine months of the year.
CATs learned that the highly toxic air contaminant methyl bromide was used several times near schools when they were in regular session. In the days following application of methyl bromide, the fumigant continues to off-gas, a process which peaks in the days immediately following fumigation and again when the plastic cover is removed (MBTOC 1995).
Also used on school days were such toxic pesticides as carbaryl, mancozeb, simazine, benomyl and oryzalin. All are considered by the U.S. EPA to be probable or possible cancer-causing chemicals and are listed or under consideration for listing as toxic air contaminants by the California
EPA.
Whether the children at these schools became sick due to the use of pesticides near their classrooms begs an answer.
Kids' Health Unstudied
The state has not studied, nor does it plan to study, the effects on the nervous systems - or intelligence - of students whose schools are near sites where nerve toxins such as methyl bromide or dimethoate are sprayed.
It hasn't checked into the colds or asthma attacks of schoolkids near applications of lung or allergy irritants such as sulfur or oryzalin. Nor has the state looked into skin rashes or eye infections in children possibly exposed to skin and eye irritants like glyphosate and propargite.
The list goes on. Moreover, even if the children are taken for treatment, it is almost certain the medical professionals are not trained specifically to recognize pesticide-caused illnesses and are not involved in joint efforts to determine if links between outbreaks of illness and chemical exposure exist. They are even less prepared to notice and diagnose longer term, more subtle effects such as any loss of intelligence, motor skills or vision which, no matter how slight, is a tremendous loss to any child. For children, especially because they are growing organisms more vulnerable to toxic exposures, common sense and an effort to make decisions on the side of caution are critical for long term health.
One vineyard example was found in Alexander Valley, where the 120-acre Belle Terre Ranch at 8239 Highway 128 is near Alexander Valley School at 8511 Highway 128. A total of 3,400 pounds of methyl bromide was used at Belle Terre on just one day, October 13, a Friday. Earlier in the year, on Tuesday, February 28, Belle Terre's owners and managers mixed and sprayed 17.5 gallons of Roundup, 18.75 gallons of simazine, 10 gallons of oryzalin, 4 pounds of benomyl, 2 gallons of oxyfluorfen, and several gallons of other chemical additives. On Sunday, April 30,160 pounds of mancozeb were applied to the vineyard, and another 80 pounds were applied Tuesday, June 6.
In central Sonoina County, the Windsor Co-operative Nursery, at 9161 Starr Road, attended by toddlers, is located near vineyards where large quantities of hazardous pesticides are used during the school year. For example, at a nearby vineyard managed by Vino Farms at 8299 Windsor Road, 264 pounds of cancer-causing mancozeb were applied on Friday, March 31. On Tuesday, April 11, another 264 pounds of mancozeb were applied by owner Klein Foods and its manager, Roy Davis of Vino Farms.
Other school-day pesticide applications occurred on Tuesday, February 21, when 332 pounds of simazine, 100 pounds of Roundup and 132 pounds of chemical additives were sprayed, and on Tuesday, May 23, when Vino Farms used 25 pounds of myclobutanil and 16.2 gallons of diphacinone.
Valley Kids, Too
Schoolchildren in the Sonoma Valley region also were threatened with potential airborne exposures to pesticides.
Kenwood Elementary School at 230 Randolph Avenue is near the 92-acre vineyard of Chateau St. Jean, where 1,000 pounds of methyl bromide were used on Wednesday, November 14.
On three days in February, Wednesday the 1st, Friday the 3rd, and Wednesday the 22nd, Chateau St. Jean sprayed large amounts of mixtures of several herbicides and synthetic fungicides, and repeated the process the following month, from Wednesday through Friday, March 28 - 31.
Other vineyards near each of the schools mentioned above also used pesticides when school was in session, and the same pattern took place at 11 or more schools in Sonoma County. A more complete description of vineyard pesticide use near schools is outlined below.
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