School District 5 may be joining several other school districts in the province in banning the use of pesticides for cosmetic purposes.

The Board?s Education/Policy Committee met Sept. 27 to consider a new draft policy on the use of pesticides to rid schoolyards of dandelions, hound?s tongue and other noxious weeds.

The groups critical of the Board?s draft policy, which included Wildsight, took exception to the last line of the document which said the District would apply pesticides utilizing a Pest Management Plan with the ?best practice using the safest known legal product.?

But after listening to Patti Moore, health promotion coordinator for the Canadian Cancer Society, Dr. James Heilman, an emergency medicine specialist at the East Kootenay Regional Hospital and others, the Board decided to table its draft policy and appoint a committee of stakeholders to examine the issue further.

Both Moore and Heilman told the board that evidence is mounting of a relationship between pesticide use and a wide variety of human diseases including cancer. As a result other School Districts in the province have imposed outright bans on the use of pesticides for cosmetic purposes including the Surrey School District, the largest in the province.

?We believe pesticides should never be used for cosmetic purposes, even as a last resort. We believe in the precautionary principle that it?s better to be safe than sorry,? said Moore.

Heilman said the medical literature shows a ?dramatic increase in the risk of cancer? in humans when pesticides are used.

According to a fact sheet, distributed by Heilman, pesticides have associations with leukemia as well as cancers of the brain, kidney, breast, prostate, pancreas, liver, lung, lymphoma and skin. The risks occur in both residential and occupational exposures.

Exposure in children may impair neurobehavioral development such as increasing the chances of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and autism spectrum disorder.

Pesticides are also said to increase the risk of Parkinson?s disease by 70 per cent.

District Superintendent Bill Gook said the District has been dealing the best it can with the issue.

?In the past we did what we thought was best for our fields and in terms of the safety of our students and staff too. But with more recent information and the strong connection between chemical use and cancer, we have quickly started to reduce (use of chemicals) and are actively searching for alternative, chemical-free ways of looking after our fields.?

Committee Chair Chris Johns said the use of pesticides to control noxious weeds on fields is rapidly becoming a big issue. ?It?s come to our attention that this is a very contentious topic among school districts in the province and across Canada.?

But Board Chairman Frank Lento said he?s confident a solution exists somewhere.

?Ultimately we want to become pesticide free, but the crucial question is how do we get there. We don?t have an answer yet, but it?s critical we get one.?

Johns said a ?considered approach? would probably work best and more research should be done. ?We need a little more time to come up with a policy that we would feel most comfortable with.?

Sparwood Trustee Bev Bellina said she approves how the Board is dealing with the issue despite the pressure to do something quickly.

?I?m encouraged the District is taking the high road.?