| Kids in, pests out
In the case of integrated pest management (IPM), getting
expelled from school is a good thing.
Pests such as cockroaches, termites, mice, rats and
spiders, and the pesticides used to control them, can be harmful
to children. IPM helps schools control pests by using common-sense
approaches to prevent them from entering the buildings. Purdue’s
Department of Entomology
has established a technical
resource center to help school corporations implement the program.
“More than 90 percent of the schools in Indiana
have adopted our program,” says Tim
Gibb, Purdue Extension entomologist and director of IPM.
Benton Central Community School Corp. in Oxford, Ind.,
has been using IPM since August 2000 with dramatic results. “Because
we are in a rural location, pests are more of a problem for us than
other schools,” says Mike Dexter, director of physical plants.
“Since we adopted the program, the pest population has been
reduced by 60 to 70 percent.” |
