emergency use only. The purpose of responsible pest control is to prevent
emergencies, if your school has implemented IPM, promote it!’’^83The following response shows what New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer (now
governor-elect) and the state’s Department of Education thought of the above letter:
‘‘Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has asked the Department to share with school
administrators the following information. In September 2000, a pesticide industry
group known as RISE wrote to more than 20,000 school facilities nationwide,
including those in New York state. The materials distributed by RISE promote pesti-
cide use with deceptive claims and irrelevant anecdotes about the health and environ-
mental impacts of pesticides. The Attorney General wants you to be fully informed
of the correct information so that you can make pest control decisions to best protect
the health of students, staff, and visitors.
‘‘While ostensibly promoting Integrated Pest Management (IPM) at schools, the
materials sent by RISE actually encourage continued excessive reliance on pesticides
by schools. This central role for pesticides runs contrary to the positions of the
Department, the Attorney General’s office and countless other governmental and citi-
zens’ groups. However, it is understandable that RISE advocates this role, given that
its mission, as set forth at its Web site, is to: 1) provide a strong unified voice for the
specialty pesticide industry; 2) positively influence public opinion and policy; and 3)
promote the use of industry products.
‘‘In advocating pesticide use, RISE makes numerous deceptive safety or irrelevant
claims. For instance, that claim that ‘pesticides pose no risk to the health of children
or adults when used according to label instructions’ is not only false, but is specifi-
cally prohibited by federal regulations from appearing on the label of any pesticide
product. The reference to the West Nile virus in New York City is largely irrelevant
to school settings, given that the virus victims were elderly, and transmission is
believed to have occurred in the evening during the summer. Similarly, the malaria
reference is irrelevant given no infected mosquitoes were ever found.
‘‘The Attorney General is concerned that RISE’s mailing will be relied upon by
school facilities managers and administrators, and its deceptive claims might be
repeated to parents, students, and school staff....
‘‘While the public should not simply accept the risks associated with severe infesta-
tions at schools, it is not necessary to expose our children to highly toxic substances in
the name of pest control. Properly planned and implemented IPM programs can serve
to control pests without introducing toxic materials into the school environment.’’^84The FrontlineInterviewIn February 1998, Douglas Hamilton, producer of Frontline’s ‘‘Fooling with
Nature,’’ interviewed Dawn Forsythe, former manager of government affairs for San-
doz Agro, Inc. (now Novartis AG), a pesticide manufacturer based in Basel, Switzer-
land. Ms. Forsythe was the company’s sole lobbyist for the entire United States and148 | Pesticides