Protecting Children - Understanding Integrated Pest Management with the US EPA

Each year EPA Region 2 undertakes a focused initiative on pesticide safety for children. Young children are curious explorers who often crawl on the floor, touch toys and other objects, and put their fingers in their mouths. As a result of their innate curiosity and early developmental level, growing preschool children are most vulnerable to exposure from toxic chemicals and residual build-up from pesticides used indoors over extended periods of time. The goal of today’s presentation is to inform you about Integrated Pest Management (IPM), a strategy to provide a cleaner, healthier environment for young children and infants in your childcare settings. You will learn how IPM emphasizes knowledge of the life cycle of common pests, the use of proper sanitation, mechanical barriers to keep pests out, changes in cultural practices, monitoring and evaluation of building maintenance practices, before considering the use of any pesticide. The development of an IPM Program specific to your facility includes efficient organization of pest related paperwork, education of school personnel in IPM practices, and a coordinator whose responsibility is to ensure the overall success of the IPM Program.

This webinar was presented by the four following professionals: Vincent J. Cannavo, Zachary Pendley, Grace Hageman, Lynne Gregory

We greatly appreciate their continued efforts to make our community safe - and for sharing their time and expertise to provide this important information!