American schoolkids being exposed to toxic weed killer
You see the signs every time you drop off your kids or grandkids at school.
“Drug-Free School Zone” or “Tobacco-Free Campus.”
And it’s all to make us think that our schools and our politicians are doing everything they can to keep our children safe.
But every time they head off to school each morning, millions of our youngest students are being exposed to one of the deadliest weed killers around — one that may even cause cancer.
The Environmental Working Group estimates that more than 3,000 American elementary schools are now within 1,000 feet (or less) of genetically-modified corn or soy fields that are being treated with millions of pounds of Monsanto’s Roundup (glyphosate).
Our government isn’t lifting a finger to stop it — but there are three things you can do right now to protect the littlest ones in your family.
But when it comes to spraying dangerous doses of glyphosate within a stone’s throw of schools, those McClean farmers don’t take a back seat to anyone.
According to EWG, there are 10 elementary schools in McClean County within 1,000 feet or less (about three football fields) of corn and soybean farms that have been doused with more than 3.5 million pounds of glyphosate in the last decade.
The same glyphosate that the World Health Organization says likely causes cancer — and that can easily drift to nearby classrooms, playgrounds and athletic fields.
A similar story is being repeated all over the United States from California up to Maine — and it’s not just in rural areas, either. There are schools being exposed to Roundup just a short distance from major American cities like Washington, DC.
You see, most states don’t have “no spray” zones around schools, which means farmers are free to use all the toxic weed killers and pesticides they want.
And I hope we all live long enough to see the Feds take action — because they’re in no hurry.
The Pesticide Action Network and Physicians for Social Responsibility spent six years filing petitions and lawsuits trying to get the EPA to establish safe buffer zones around schools. And when they finally heard back last year, the agency said the idea wasn’t “scientifically supportable or defensible.”
Have you ever seen such hypocrisy in your life!
Just last year the EPA approved Dow’s Enlist Duo, a combo of Roundup and 2,4-D (one of the poisons that was in Agent Orange) that’s been linked to everything from cancer to Parkinson’s disease.
Enlist Duo is so toxic that the EPA ruled it can’t be sprayed within 1,000 feet of other fields and plants that aren’t being treated. But they don’t care if your grandkids’ playground is covered in the stuff!
It looks like just about any state and any school could be at risk (unless, of course, you live in the Arctic Circle). And if you want to protect your kids or grandkids, there are three steps you can take right now:
- Check out the EWG map to see how much glyphosate farms near your schools may be using. While the map doesn’t name schools, you can see pretty quickly if you live in a country with heavy glyphosate use — and if there are lots of schools nearby.
- Visit the Beyond Pesticides web site for state-by-state information on school pesticide policies, local rules and ordinances.
- Contact your local school board and state legislators to demand “spray free” zones around your local schools.
Tell them that if they’re serious about protecting our kids from deadly poisons, they shouldn’t stop with drugs and tobacco.
Sources:
“Communities near GMO fields sprayed by Monsanto’s glyphosate” Mary Ellen Kustin and Nadia Barbosa, October 7, 2015, AGMag Blog, Environmental Working Group, ewg.org
