Full text of report
Summary of findings
Act No. 07-168: An Act Banning Pesticide Use on School Grounds
Act No. 05-252: An Act Concerning Pesticides at Schools and Day Care
EPA permits over 200 different pesticides to be used for lawn care,
and these are often mixed together and sold as chemical combinations.
They are intentionally toxic substances.
Some chemicals commonly used on lawns and gardens have been associated
with birth defects, mutations, adverse reproductive effects, and cancer
in laboratory animals. Children, infants, and fetuses may be especially
vulnerable to the health effects of pesticides before the age of five,
when their cells are normally reproducing most rapidly.
In addition to their health effects, there are ecological effects to
their use as well. Most lawn-care chemicals have the potential to contaminate
underlying groundwater. Only two of the top five lawn-care pesticides, 2,4-D and glyphosate, are regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, despite governmental acknowledgement of the intensity of effects of their release on the environment, and their potential to leach into groundwater supplies. Also, studies
of major rivers and streams have documented that 100 percent of all surface
water samples contained one or more pesticides at detectable levels.
- “Homeowners use up to 10 times more chemical pesticides per
acre on their lawns than farmers use on crops.”4 — U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service
- Increased odds of childhood leukemia, brain cancer and soft tissue
sarcoma have been associated with children living in households where
pesticides are used.
- 96 percent of all fish analyzed in major rivers and streams contained
residues of one or more pesticides at detectable levels. —United
States Geological Survey
- EHHI surveyed 18 stores in Connecticut and found that most stores
displayed pesticide packages with visible tears or rips.
- Some pesticides commonly used on lawns and gardens in Connecticut...have
been banned or restricted in other countries because of concerns about
health effects. Many Canadian municipalities have banned or severely
restricted the use of lawn-care pesticides.
- Several studies... have found a statistically higher incidence of
non- Hodgkin’s lymphoma in people exposed to 2,4-D.
- Data suggest that MCPP may cause cancer, birth defects, and mutagenic
- Some inert ingredients are suspected carcinogens; others have been
linked to central nervous system disorders, liver and kidney damage,
birth defects, and some short-term health effects. — Attorney
General’s Office of New York
- The use of household pesticides has been associated with a variety
of childhood cancers.
- Pesticides not intended for use on food are not required to undergo
the same degree of testing as those used on food.
- The use of pesticides often harms wildlife and their habitats....
Commonly used lawn-care chemicals can persist in soil and water for
weeks, which can lead to the contamination of aquatic resources and
- In addition to contaminating surface water, pesticides can contaminate
groundwater, potentially causing health problems in those people drinking
- At least one pesticide was detected by USGS in more than 95 percent
of stream samples collected at 115 sites.