Cleaning for Healthier Child Care

In 2007, 61% of children 0–6 in the U.S., about 12 million, were in child care, spending, on average, 37 hours a week[iv] there. There were 1.2 million child care providers working in the U.S. in 2008. Nearly half of these providers are in their childbearing years when pesticide exposure may be most harmful[v]. A 2010 survey of 637 randomly chosen child care centers in California[vi] found that 90% of child care centers reported at least one problem with indoor and/or outdoor pests; that 55% of centers reported using non-microbicide pesticides to control pests, with 47% reporting use of sprays or foggers that can leave residues on surfaces and in the air, and potentially expose children and staff to high risk pesticides. In contrast, only 21% reported using lower risk pesticide application methods consistent with integrated pest management (IPM) such as baits and gels. The presence of pesticides has also been documented by environmental sampling in child care. In a sampling study, pyrethroid and organophosphate (OP) pesticides were detected in surface and soil samples in 80% of centers.[vii] In centers in North Carolina, researchers detected organophosphate and pyrethroid pesticides in air and dust, and suggested that exposures in child care environments may constitute a significant portion of total child exposures[viii]. 

Dust is a source of major exposure for pesticides[ix]. It is estimated that infants eat twice as much dust (100 mg vs. 50 mg/d), weigh one sixth as much, and are up to ten times more vulnerable than adults to dust exposure[x]. They are also less developed immunologically, physiologically, and neurologically, and therefore, are less able to metabolize, detoxify, and excrete pollutants[xi]. There is increasing evidence of adverse effects of pesticides on young children, particularly on neurodevelopment[xii]. Even infrequent pesticide use in America’s 1,191,747 child care centers and 238,103 family child care homes[xiii] represents a significant environmental impact.

Research links pesticides with asthma, attention deficit hyperactivity disorders, birth defects, cancer, neurodevelopment disorders, autism, loss of intelligence, hormone disruption and mental retardation[xiv]. Avoiding the use of pesticides in most cases requires a common sense approach known as integrated pest management.

Integrated Pest Management: A Toolkit for Early Care and Education Programs -