California Safe Schools AB 405 - Stop Human Experimentation!

The 14th Amendment of our Constitution says that everyone is entitled
to equal protection under the law. I'm 17 years old, and I'd like to live
way past 18.

Too many kids have cancer and asthma and lots of learning problems and
kids need to be protected from anything that might make health and learning
problems worse. Our constitution seems to agree, because if they didn't want
kids to be protected our founding fathers would have said that everyone is
entitled to equal protection under the law except kids. And it doesn't say
that.

California law today allows pesticides that have not received full
health, stability and efficacy tests to be used on school campuses. These
products that are not fully registered are known as "experimental" or
"conditionally registered" products. The fact that K-12 public schools are
being targeted to test experimental or conditional use pesticide products is
downright creepy.

To close this dangerous loophole, Assemblywoman Montanez (D) has
written a bill called AB405. The sponsors are California Safe Schools, a
children's environmental health coalition dedicated to protecting kids from
environmental toxins. Keep in mind, the law requires that kids attend K-12
public schools, so it's not like we have a choice about what we have to sit
through during the school days. The bill, which has been approved by the
Assembly, was created to protect kids, and prevent K-12 public schools from
being used as test sites for experimental chemicals.

To understand why this bill is important, here's what's missing on
some products that they can now legally use in schools. It's not Halloween
but hang on because this is scary:

EFFICACY TESTING. This has to do with how well a product kills pests.
So, if you're a school district buying products, the last thing you want is
to buy something that may or may not work, or use any product around schools
where the chemical manufacturer never bothered to complete safety testing.

STABILITY TESTING. For those who weren't lucky enough to have a great
science teacher like Ms. Macion like I did, and may not have learned about
stability tests, they tell you about a chemical's storage ability. Some
chemical interact with other chemicals and can become more dangerous the
longer they are stored, and some others don't work if you store them too
long. Even worse, an unqualified person multi mixing chemicals could end up
causing an explosion or a release of chemicals in your school that if they
don't kill you make you sick.

Kids are lucky at Los Angeles Unified, which is the largest school
district in the state and the second largest in the country, because the
district doesn't allow experimental pesticide products, and it has a smart
program called Integrated Pest Management (IPM) that requires low-risk
methods for killing pests and weeds. But hey, what about other school
districts? When teachers and students visit, are they being used as lab
rats? Without AB 405, it sure seems like it.

Anyway you look at it, K-12 public school kids, teachers and school
workers can be used as lab experiments, without our knowledge. In the words
of one of my favorite actors, Wallace Shawn as Vizzini in Princess Bride,
it's "inconceivable!"

Brandon Stirling Baker is a 17-year-old student from Los Angeles.

For further information, or to send a letter of support:

California Safe Schools - 818-785-5515 http://www.calisafe.org