Toxic Pesticides Are Sprayed Next to Thousands of US Schools

As many as 2 million children attend elementary schools near farms where pesticides are likely applied, as federal legislators aim to gut state and local health protections.

Young children go to schools within just 200 feet of farms where pesticides are likely to be sprayed, a new analysis of farms across the country has found. Although most states have laws restricting how and when pesticides can be applied near schools, pesticide companies and their allies in Congress are trying to preempt such laws, the report warned.

Farmers apply about a billion pounds of pesticides every year in the United States, including a dozen particularly dangerous compounds banned in the European Union. Growers may be applying any number of toxic pesticides within just 200 feet—about the length of an ice hockey rink—of more than 4,000 elementary schools, researchers with the nonprofit Environmental Working Group reported in the new analysis released Thursday. 

The analysis shows why it’s so important to protect state and local laws that are designed to protect kids from pesticides, said Scott Faber, head of government affairs for the Environmental Working Group, at a press briefing.