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Philadelphia Partnership Meets to Discuss Safer Pest Control - August 2007

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – Urban areas are plagued by chronic pest infestations – yet continually combating pests with pesticides can be hazardous. What to do?

Five years ago, the Pennsylvania Integrated Pest Management Program (PA IPM) at Penn State began looking for community-based solutions to manage pests effectively and safely and formed Philadelphia School and Community IPM Partnership, or PSCIP. Since then, PSCIP has applied over $800,000 in grant monies from multiple sources to provide kid-safe pest control education and outreach in Philadelphia.

IPM, or integrated pest management is a systematic, common sense approach to managing pests that is both safer and more effective than routine pesticide spraying. IPM uses knowledge of pests’ habits and needs to help residents implement pest prevention tactics for long-term control. Because pesticides are poisonous, they are chosen only as a temporary tool to gain the upper hand. Even then, only pesticide products that are least-toxic and that pose the least risk of exposure to residents are chosen. For example, products such as gels and baits for roaches are preferable to “bug bombs” and aerosol sprays which can be inhaled or leave residues on floors, toys and utensils. Information about proper use, storage and disposal of pesticide products is also critical to avoid personal and environmental contamination.

PSCIP members include community groups, schools and child development centers, tenant groups, environmental groups, health professionals, pest control professionals, university staff and city and state agencies.  The group held its fourth annual meeting recently to update partners on the progress of their various efforts, discuss pest control and pesticide issues, and brainstorm future needed activities and funding sources. The meeting was hosted by EPA Region III, Pesticide /Asbestos Program and Enforcement Branch in Philadelphia. Harry Daw, Associate Director for Enforcement Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances, welcomed PSCIP Partners and gave an overview of the Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) Program, through which PSCIP was awarded a grant in 2006.

The PSCIP CARE project, administered through the Penn State Cooperative Extension office in Philadelphia, allows the group to provide IPM presentations to social workers, home visitors, nurses and other health care providers in the Philadelphia area. According to Michelle Niedermeier, PSCIP coordinator with the PA IPM Program, it also allows PSCIP to tailor new materials and presentations to other groups, such as Spanish speaking populations. “We’re also looking into the impact pests and pesticides have on our environment and health. We are working to improve indoor and outdoor air quality and protect drinking water sources through a variety of means, such as educating residents to use the city’s household hazardous waste drop-offs to get rid of the unneeded and unwanted pesticides, household cleaners and other toxic substances,” she said.

Niedermeier estimates that at least 500 residents and six health care organizations and their staff will be educated on pests, pesticide use and IPM. “Since we utilize a ‘train-the-trainer approach with various organizations, a potentially a much larger population will be reached through their own clientele,” she said.

With support from PSCIP partners, PA IPM was also awarded a research grant from the USDA Northeast Regional IPM Center to learn more about urban residents’ pest issues and approach to pest control. In partnership with Rutgers University in New Jersey, the project will target low-income neighborhoods in Philadelphia and Camden, NJ and will involve home visits to administer a questionnaire, educate participants about IPM and distribute IPM kits containing less-toxic pest control products, safer cleaning products, and a gift card. According to Dion Lerman, environmental health educator with PA IPM and project coordinator, the overall objective is to reduce pests and pesticide exposure and improve overall health of the community. “We’ll also be looking to survey neighborhood stores to see what types of pest control products are available, and provide them with safer pest control information.”

In another effort, PA IPM and PSCIP partner The PreSchool Project was awarded an EPA Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program grant.  This grant will develop and promote bi-lingual IPM educational modules to increase IPM adoption in Latino daycare centers in Philadelphia. Helene Broitman of The PreSchool Project explained that they provide early care and education to many of the Hispanic and Latino communities in Philadelphia. “Through this grant we will train staff about IPM in both English and Spanish. We’ll also be working on an educational campaign to reduce the use of highly toxic or illegal pesticides in Latino and Asian communities.”

Also discussed at the meeting was a project initiated by PA IPM after being awarded an EPA Region III Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools (IAQ TfS) grant. According to Lyn Garling, PA IPM program manager, children spend many hours indoors in schools and day care centers. “The quality of the air in these institutions can have a significant impact on children’s health and scholastic performance. We hope to strengthen the IPM sections of the IAQ TfS kit by providing targeted education programs on IPM as a way to reduce exposure to both pest-borne allergens and asthma triggers plus reduce exposure to pesticides. This will also help schools comply with current state law requiring all public schools to implement IPM – and hopefully excel!”

PA IPM has worked with the School District of Philadelphia and currently works with the Montgomery Early Learning Centers through the IPM Institute of North America’s IPM Star Certification program. According to Garling, the IPM Star program helps participating schools and daycares implement an IPM program in their facilities, and awards them an IPM Star once completed. “We have assisted by doing several walk-throughs at five early learning center facilities, suggesting changes and taking air samples. As a result of this work, outdated pesticides have been safely removed, new protocols for communication put in place, and new policies and procedures implemented with regard to indoor air filtration, storage of chemicals and types of cleaning products used.

In another PSCIP project, students at Shaw Middle School in Southwest Philadelphia  took control of pest problems in their school as part of a service-learning project. The project empowered students, teachers, administrators and the community to learn about issues with pests and come up with possible IPM solutions. Niedermeier reported that at the end of the 2006-07 school year, 19 graduating eighth-graders had participated in the program, and six of them were recognized at graduation with “Pest Patrol” leadership honors. She will be working with the Shaw students again in the fall, and plans to expand the program to Ludlow School in Northeast Philadelphia.

For more information on PSCIP, including meeting minutes, partners in the initiative, and current and future activities, visit Web site http://www.pscip.org/.  Or, you may contact Michelle Niedermeier at the Penn State Philadelphia Outreach Center, phone (215) 471-2200, ext. 109, or e-mail mxn14@psu.edu.

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 settings. For more information, contact the program at (814) 865-2839, or see Web site http://www.paipm.org/. To view our archived news releases, see Web site http://paipm.cas.psu.edu/10.htm.