(Parents Complain About Pesticides)
Is There A Safer Option?
Often times, when you drive by one of the local schools, you will see some of the greenest and neatest fields around. Despite all of the kids that run and play on the grass every day, it raises a question on what is being used to keep these fields so clean. Certainly, there is some sort of maintenance/lawn care program the district has put together for the schools to follow, but what does that intel exactly?
You have to wonder what kinds of pesticides are being used in the fields that our children are playing on every day. The school has to be spraying for weeds, rodents, and insects consistently to make sure that there are no crazy outbreaks on campus. Are these chemicals safe for our children to be playing around? How often do they take the initiative to clean these fields with such chemicals? Are they willing to tell parents exactly what chemicals they are using on the fields?
This brings up another question. What is being done to protect the playground equipment while the fields are being sprayed? If there is a breeze, what is stopping the chemicals from getting all over the playground equipment? Does the staff pressure wash and clean jungle gyms regularly and if they do what chemicals are they using on the jungle gyms?
Not all of these questions were answers on 09/03/19 when a group of parents went to the Hemet Unified Board Meeting and voiced their concerns. Their opinions were heard even though not all their questions were answered. The main concern for HUSD was the use of “RoundUp” and if it should be used on campuses around the valley. Some argue that there is no actual scientific proof that RoundUp causes cancer, but if you look online, there have already been tons of lawsuits to the company and thousands of dollars paid out in settlements. If there is an idea that this chemical could potentially cause cancer and it’s being used at the school where our kids play, isn’t it better to be safe instead of sorry?
Maybe switching to an environmentally friendly method or handling weeds instead of spraying RoundUp all over the fields that hundreds of kids play on every day is a better solution. It may take some time to get to the bottom of this situation, and no answers have immediately come out yet, but if you are a parent of a kid at a Hemet Unified School and would like your opinion to be heard, show up to the next Hemet Unified Board Meeting (date available on their website) and let them know how you feel about the toxic chemicals being used at your child’s school.
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