Spotlight

Least-Toxic Pest Management for Migrant Head Start Centers

Children coloring at Toxic Free NC's info booth during Festival de la Raza in Kinston, 9/27/08. Photo by Ana Duncan Pardo.

This year, Toxic Free NC's Ana Duncan Pardo is working with our partners at East Coast Migrant Head Start Project to pilot kid-safe pest management programs for childcare centers. These centers serve migrant farmworker families who work on NC farms, and often travel up and down the East coast over the course of the growing season, following the harvests.

Ana is working with two of the Project's North Carolina centers - one in Fountain (Pitt County) and one in Faison (Duplin County). Together, they're assessing the center's pest issues, setting up new systems to handle them with less pesticides, training staff how to do least-toxic pest management, and training parents how to reduce children's pesticide risks at home.

>>More about our Toxic Free Kids program for schools and childcare centers
>>Contact us for help getting your school or childcare to use less pesticides.
>>Make a donation to support this work.

Pesticides in the News

Also check out weekly news and commentary from Toxic Free NC on
Fair Ground

Nov 12, 2008: Cancer society turns sights to farm pesticides
Agency holding conference with leading scientists on hotly contested issue of restricting agricultural bug and weed killers
"For years, the Canadian Cancer Society has argued in favour of bans on the cosmetic use of pesticides around homes and gardens. But it has remained silent on the country's biggest use of bug and weed killers: on farms.
Now, the society is considering weighing in on whether these sprays pose a cancer risk to farmers, other rural residents near them, and to the wider public from eating foods carrying pesticide residues. (...)" >>full story from The Globe and Mail (Canada)

Oct 22, 2008: Small doses of pesticide kill young bees
"Tiny doses of pesticides can kill baby bees. That's what research just completed at the University of Florida found when honey bee larvae were fed a diet laced with miniscule amounts of a nicotine-based pesticide. (...)">>full story from the Palm Beach Post

Sept 25, 2008: EPA suspends two studies on children
"The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has cancelled funding for two studies during which babies and young children would have been exposed to pesticides and other chemicals because of ethical concerns. (...)" >>full story from Chemistry World UK

Sept 21, 2008: Three Counties Grapple With Old Pesticide Pollution
"Residents in three North Carolina counties have raised concerns that pesticides, used by peach farmers decades ago, may be polluting well water. Tests done by state health officials have found 117 tainted wells in Montgomery, Richmond and Moore counties in the past year, The Charlotte Observer reported Saturday. (...)" >>full story from RedOrbit

Aug 20, 2008: Toxic Free NC Director Fawn Pattison appears in WRAL Focal Point Documentary: Practical Application
WRAL examines the issue of worker safety in the application of agricultural pesticides in North Carolina. The documentary features interviews with Toxic Free NC's director Fawn Pattison, as well as several of our allies in the NC Farmworker Advocacy Network. >>See the 20 minute documentary at WRAL.com

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We're Hiring!

Logistics Coordinator
30 hours per week, downtown Raleigh
Deadline for applications: December 9, 2008
Competitive pay and benefits, great work environment. >>Read on for details and application instructions

Take Action

Organic NC Christmas Trees & Wreaths

It's time once again for Toxic Free NC's annual guide to organic Christmas trees and wreaths in North Carolina!

Take Action

Take Action to Keep Farm Workers Safe on the Job
Send a Comment Letter to the NC Pesticide Board no later than Dec 15th

Please join Toxic Free NC and our allies in the Farmworker Advocacy Network in asking the NC Pesticide Board to make their pesticide rules clear and enforceable – because our worker safety laws won’t mean much if they can’t be enforced! >>Take action today

Toxic Free News: Fall 2008

Coping with Fire Ants, A Modest Victory, and
Pesticide News Briefs: These great stories and more are now available in the latest issue of our newsletter, Toxic Free News.
>>Read Toxic Free News on line

Take Action

Is your school making the grade on pesticides? Take action today!

The NC Schoolchildren's Health Act requires public schools in NC to notify parents and staff before pesticides are used at their school, and to switch to least-toxic pest control programs by 2011. But, a recent survey shows that many school districts still haven't made either of these important changes. >>Take action today to make sure your public schools are making the grade on pesticides!