Successful IPM at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools

EPA's National School Indoor Air Quality listserv recently highlighted Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools for their successful healthy schools campaign. This comprehensive document outlines the district’s goals and strategic plan for creating and maintaining a healthy learning environment and provides resources for parents, teachers, staff and students. When thinking about ways to “go green and healthy” this school year, consider the excellent ideas and resources provided in this document. Note the IPM section, starting on page 71.

EPA's Apps for the Environment

Would a mobile application help your school or district during a school IAQ walkthrough? Do you have ideas for creating environmental and/or health applications to help school communities nationwide?

Participate in EPA’s Apps for the Environment
(http://www.epa.gov/appsfortheenvironment/), and use EPA’s health and environmental data to develop a new app geared towards creating healthy indoor environments in schools. EPA supplies the data and you deliver the vision and solutions – and keep the rights. Over 90 ideas have been submitted so far! (http://www.epa.gov/developer/ideasforapps.html)

EPA experts will select a winner and runner up in each of two categories: Best Developer App and Best Student App. In addition, the public will vote for a “People’s Choice” winner. Apps will be judged based on their usefulness, innovation and usability. Winners will receive recognition on EPA’s website and will be honored at a recognition event in Washington, D.C., where they will present their apps to senior EPA officials and invited guests.

The deadline for submissions is September 16, 2011. Learn more about the challenge at http://www.epa.gov/appsfortheenvironment/.

2012 RABIES AWARENESS AND PREVENTION POSTER CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT

Teachers can save lives through education. In Texas, school grounds are the number one location for exposure to rabid bats and many teachers have first hand knowledge of this fact. Make a difference by becoming more knowledgeable yourself and making your “kids” smart about this fatal disease and preventive actions they can take at school and home.

Using this poster contest can generate enthusiasm (and some very neat prizes for the winners) while educating them about how to protect themselves, and their pets, from rabies! Information on rabies can be found at: http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/idcu/disease/rabies/.

Contest details (including some of the past winning posters) can be found at http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/idcu/disease/rabies/information/contest/.

August 17th Facility Masters Webcast Available Online

If you were unable to attend the August 17th Facility Master's Webinar "Effective IPM Practices for Safeguarding Kitchens and Cafeterias", please visit the following website to watch the webcast: http://www.sdmarketingtest.com/marketing/OnlineSeminars/pest08172011/lib/playback.html

4th Annual Pest Academy

Come join us for a great learning experience at the City of New Orleans and the Greater New Orleans Pest Control Association's 4th Annual Pest Control Academy. The Academy will be held in New Orleans on October 11, 12, and 13, 2011. The Academy will feature interactive and hands-on programs regarding a variety of pest insects, rodents and the methods used to manage them. Send your registration information soon in order to ensure your space in the class.

Our featured speakers will be Dr. Phil Koehler of the University of Florida and he will discuss bedbugs, cockroaches, and other urban pests. Janet A. Hurley from Texas AgriLife Research and Extension in Dallas will discuss Integrated Pest Management in schools and child care facilities. Mike Herring from Centers for Disease Control will discuss rodent biology. We will also cover a variety of topics which includes Africanized honey bees, ants, fly biology and management, mosquito control, and much more. Local pest management professionals will walk you through a commercial kitchen, discuss integrated pest management of fast food establishments, and much more.

Our class size is limited to 30 people because of the interactive, hands-on activities. Attached you will find the Academy brochure and registration form. For more information about the Academy, feel free to contact me at the numbers below.

For more information, please contact:

Claudia Riegel, Ph.D., Director, New Orleans Mosquito and Termite Control Board

OR

Cynthia Krohn, Assistant to the Director, New Orleans Mosquito, Rodent & Termite Control

Bed Bug Summit offers best value, unique content and speakers- Register Now

This Summit represents the largest, most comprehensive bed bug conference in North America. Every session, every speaker and every person you meet will be focused on bed bugs for this three-day event. As bed bug research and education continue to evolve daily, what was true last year may be different than what is true this year, come out and learn why!! For more information, click here.

Mold and Moisture Webinar Presentation Now Available!

Mold and Moisture Webinar

Video Recording, Presentation Slides and Additional Resources Now Available!

Although you may have missed the Mold and Moisture webinar – focusing on common sources of mold and moisture, how to detect mold growth, and technical information and resources to help remediate these issues in school environments – you can now access resources from this webinar online. Held on July 20, 2011, this was the latest webinar in a series designed to highlight key technical aspects of the Framework for Effective School IAQ Management.

Due to the popularity of the pictures used in this webinar presentation, the speakers have given permission to distribute the presentation pictures to anyone who is interested. Please email IAQTFSConnector@cadmusgroup.com to request specific pictures.

Do you have a question about controlling mold and moisture in schools? Check out a Questions and Answers document from the webinar to see if your questions have already been answered by the webinar speakers.

To access additional resources from past technical webinars, visit the IAQ Tools for Schools webinar archive, which is a great resource to help you better manage IAQ in your schools.

Healthy Child Healthy World

The Healthy Child Healthy World (HCHW) group recently released a new video. HCHW advocates for children’s environmental health, including reducing pesticides at home and in learning environments. For more information, check out the HCHW website at: http://healthychild.org/

Ohio Bed Bug Workgroup Issues Final Report

COLUMBUS –The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) today released the Ohio Bed Bug Workgroup report. Workgroup members from a diverse group of professional backgrounds and perspectives, including pest management, housing, government, and public health worked together to develop 10 recommendations which outline strategies that will assist future bed bug prevention and control efforts. For more information, click here.

New Resource: School IPM Fiscal Analysis Document

The IPM Fiscal Analysis document is a list of questions for schools to ask when evaluating the annual cost of their pest management programs. The document is divided into three potential cost centers: contracted pest management costs, in-house pest management costs and school (administrative) costs. Thanks to John Carter, director of planning at Indiana’s Monroe County Community Schools Corporation, for developing this practical resource.

http://www.ipminstitute.org/sc​hool_ipm_2015/resources.htm#IP​M_Fiscal_Analysis

Fall School Grounds Conference

Many of you have become involved in school gardens/landscapes whether it's via donations of plants, labor or guidance. There's a brand new conference taking place this year for greening school grounds, focusing on the outdoor landscape offering both play and learning opportunities. The first International International Green Schoolyard Conference will be held in Berkley and San Francisco, California, September 16-18, 2011. Organizers have invited leaders of the school ground movement from Europe, North America, and Japan. More information is available at www.greenschoolyards.org.

Healthy Schools Act back-to-school Reminders

The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) has put together a brochure of reminders about the Healthy Schools Act requirements, IPM information, IPM training opportunities and other items to think about as the new school year starts. A hard copy was mailed to the Operations & Maintenance Director or IPM Coordinator at each school district. An electronic copy of the brochure can be viewed or downloaded on our web site: www.cdpr.ca.gov/schoolipm/hsa_reminder_2011.pdf

As a reminder, the California DPR currently have School IPM training workshops scheduled throughout California in 2011-12. Check our web page for current locations and dates. www.cdpr.ca.gov/schoolipm/training/main.cfm

EPA's 2011 Tick IPM Conference Documents

The EPA sponsored the Promoting Community IPM for Preventing Tick-Borne Diseases conference this past March. The conference covered a broad array of topics related to the use of IPM to reduce tick-borne diseases. We would like to inform you of the availability of key documents from the conference:

• Executive Summary - http://epa.gov/pestwise/events/ticks/tickconferencereport.pdf
• Meeting Participants - http://epa.gov/pestwise/events/ticks/tick_conference_participants.pdf
• Individual Presentations - http://epa.gov/pestwise/events/tick_meeting.html
  

In addition to the documents referenced above, EPA has created a Public Docket to serve as a permanent repository for documents related to the conference. The online docket is available at (http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;dct=FR+PR+N+O+SR;rpp=10;po=0;D=EPA-HQ-OPP-2011-0136). If your company or organization have been actively engaged in tick integrated pest management practices, we strongly encourage you to complete the electronic membership application to join our Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program (http://epa.gov/pestwise/pesp/join.html). Again, we appreciate your participation and interest in the conference and look forward to collaborating with you on future tick IPM topics. Please visit our website (http://epa.gov/pestwise/about/index.html) to stay abreast of our stewardship activities.

Questions? Pleas email Raderrio Wilkins.

August School IPM 2015 eNewsletter

The August School IPM 2015 eNewsletter features articles on Pesticide Restrictions Provide New Opportunities for IPM, EPA PestWise Awards and the New Facility Masters Webcast and Nationwide Listserv.

http://www.ipminstitute.org/school_ipm_2015/Aug11_eNewsletter.htm

If you have not done so already, please consider signing up for the monthly School IPM 2015 newsletter mailing list to:

• Learn how you can reduce pesticide use and pest complaints by more than 70%!
• Create a successful IPM program with no long-term increase in pest management costs.
• Learn strategies for managing pests all year:
  
• Fall – stinging insects
  
• Spring – ants
  
• New pests – bed bugs
  
• Improve your ability to educate and gain cooperation from key staff including maintenance, custodial and food service.
  

Signing up is easy. Email your name and contact information to: newsletter@schoolipm2015.com

New Rules for Toxic Rodent Control Products

The Pennsylvania Integrated Pest Management (PA IPM) Program and The Poison Control Center based at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia are joining forces to educate Philadelphians about the importance of EPA’s new law to protect children, pets and wildlife from accidental exposure to rodent control products.

On June 7, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced its plans to ban the sale of some popular household mouse and rat poisons along with most bait and pellet products. Since rodenticides are pesticides designed to kill mammals by thinning blood, they can pose a special risk for accidental poisoning of humans and their pets. In addition, rodenticides in pelleted form are easily accessible to children.

Children are uniquely vulnerable to accidental pesticide exposures due to their exploratory behavior. Fortunately, only a small number of exposed children suffer adverse health effects. However, children in low-income families are disproportionally at risk of exposure. This information may be particularly important for the residents of Philadelphia. According to The Poison Control Center, children aged 12 and under account for 65% of the children exposed to rodenticides in the Philadelphia County. In addition, in 20 percent of the rodenticide exposures reported, the actual products were unknown to the caller. This indicates that many people are unaware of the specific pesticides they are using, and are not reading the product labels. Such information is critical to have on hand when calling the Poison Control Centers so that a proper course of action can be advised.

Also, some of the exposure calls involved the use of illegal pesticides. Such products do not have a proper chemical identification, nor have instructions on use. Unfortunately many people don’t even know they are purchasing an illegal product since they are often found in many small neighborhood stores. These non-approved EPA pesticides come in many shapes and forms and claim to get rid of various household pests. Such products may come in unmarked baggies and include such names as "Tres Pasitos", Chinese Chalk and illegal naphthalene mothballs that are colored and look like candy.

Tres Pasitos is imported illegally from Mexico and the Dominican Republic. Its active ingredient is a very toxic chemical called Aldicarb. People exposed to Aldicarb can suffer weakness, blurred vision, headache, nausea, vomiting, tearing, sweating, tremors, and, in high doses, death due to paralysis of the nervous system. Curious by nature, children and pets are especially vulnerable to poisoning by Aldicarb.

PA IPM and the Poison Control Center recommend Integrated Pest Management practices as the best way of controlling rodents like rats and mice. This is achieved by combining the tactics that are most effective, including prevention through sanitation, rodent-proofing and removal of rodent harborage, and other alternatives to pesticides. Make sure that there are no sources of food (such as trash cans without lids, or pet food left outside) or water, such as leaking pipes or hydrants, or standing puddles. Keeping rats out of your house is easier than catching them inside! Look for any openings in your outside wall bigger than a quarter. These may be where pipe or wires enter the building, or warped or broken windows or doors, missing mortar, bricks or siding, or any other way into the building. Seal these with rat-proof materials. Outdoor rat burrows can be reported to the City of Philadelphia Vector Control Program, who will come and treat the burrows. Call them at 215-685-9000. For information on keeping rats out, visithttp://www.phila.gov/health/pdfs/RATS.pdf [English only], or for comprehensive information about preventing rats on your property, visit: http://home2.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/pest/rodent_control.pdf (English) orhttp://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/pest/rodent_control-sp.pdf (Spanish).

The safest way for catching mice in the home is to use snap traps. Newer models of snap traps are set by simply squeezing the back. This avoids snapping fingers while setting and releasing and it also avoids touching the rodent. The snapping side should be set toward the wall and baited with peanut butter. Snap traps kill the mouse instantly and they prevent the rodents from dying in inaccessible places (e.g. behind the walls) and causing unpleasant odors.

To learn more on how to eliminate mice and rats, you can read a copy of the PA IPM brochure “Is There a Mouse in the House?” at http://extension.psu.edu/ipm/resources/factsheets/Rodentsbrochure.pdf/

To read EPA’s full article please click on the following link:
06/07/2011: EPA Takes Major Actions to Reduce Americans’ Risks from Mouse and Rat Poisons / Move will better protect children, http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/1e5ab1124055f3b28525781f0042ed40/5689a230c1490219852578a80053a4b7!OpenDocument

The Poison Control Center (PCC) at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is a non-profit regional poison control services provider offering a 24-hour-a-day emergency hotline for poisoning incidents and poison information. Information and treatment advice is available to the public and healthcare professionals at no charge. Call 1-800-222-1222 for assistance.

The Pennsylvania IPM program is a collaboration between the Pennsylvania State University and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture aimed at promoting integrated pest management in both agricultural and urban situations. If you need more information on IPM practices you can contact the program at (814) 865-2839. In Philadelphia at (215) 435-9685, cell (215) 471-2200, ext. 109 (office) E-mail: pscip@psu.edu, or our Web site at http://paipm.cas.psu.edu to access the program's blog, Twitter and Facebook pages.