<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1DPEn8_0viLLDSx00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1DPEn8_0viLLDSx00" width="1320" height="743" >CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — More than a billion pounds of pesticides are sprayed on U.S. farmlands yearly, and some of these chemicals may drift beyond their intended targets.A recent report by the Environmental Working Group found that nearly 26,000 schools nationwide are within a quarter mile of farm fields that might be treated with pesticides. In West Virginia, 351 schools fall within this "spray zone."Data produced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture indicates that West Virginia has 351 schools between 200 feet and a quarter mile of a crop field.The Environmental Working Group warns that children are particularly vulnerable to pesticide exposure because their brains, organs and immune systems are still developing. However, state regulators have not found evidence of serious problems caused by farm spraying in West Virginia schools.<img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=457tlh_0viLLDSx00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=457tlh_0viLLDSx00" width="648" height="365" >"In the 31 years I've been a pesticide regulator, I don't recall any complaints from agricultural land drifting onto school property," said Grant Bishop, deputy director of the West Virginia Department of Agriculture's Pesticides Regulatory Programs. "Most of the complaints we get about pesticide drift on ag-land is from one crop to another."Bishop said that there are restrictions on who can use certain pesticides, and the key is to avoid windy conditions and follow guidelines on labels."Some of those chemicals are what we call restricted use pesticides, and that's because they can be toxic to the handler or subject to drift, but as long as that pesticide applicator follows the language, there shouldn't be a problem with exposure to the general public," he said.Bishop noted that pesticide issues are more likely to come from chemicals used by the school or their pest control contractors.State rules do not require notifying parents if baits and gels are used, but parents should be notified for liquid treatments, which should only be applied when children are not in the building.The Regulatory and Environmental Affairs Division stated that agricultural drift does not seem to be a major problem in West Virginia. However, an Eastern Panhandle exterminator was recently fined $3,000 for not following the required steps before applying preventive insect treatment to a school.</div></body>

Mountain View, CA

NewsBreak

More than 300 West Virginia schools potentially in pesticide 'spray zone'

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — More than a billion pounds of pesticides are sprayed on U.S. farmlands yearly, and some of these chemicals may drift beyond their intended targets. A recent report by the Environmental Working Group found that nearly 26,000 schools nationwide are within a quarter mile of farm...