Problem
The school now sprays Glyphosate products like Roundup, a known likely carcinogen. The product is now widely known to be dangerous and the company that created it is now widely known to be guilty of manipulating the public awareness about the safety of this poison. A recent lawsuit awarded 289 million to a school employee for giving the man cancer. It is a fact that Bella Vista Elementary employees have exposed the children by improperly applying the product. We have no idea how many times this has happened.

Solution
Switch to non-toxic methods of weed and pest control. There is an organization that assists California schools in this transition. The school board should immediately act to protect the children by ceasing Glyphosate and other toxic poisons and begin using the alternatives provided by toxic-free experts.

Personal story- by Mauro Oliveira (parent)
One day in the spring of 2018 I entered the Bella Vista Elementary School to pick up my son from the SHARE program. I entered the schoolyard through a gate that had no notification that pesticide/herbicide spraying was taking place. As I was walking on the sidewalk a man with a backpack sprayer BUT WITHOUT a mask, safety glasses or safety clothing, walked right in front of me and began spraying the grass just feet away from me. Worse than that, he began to spray within INCHES of three children sitting in the grass in the playground area. There were children everywhere in the area, as usual. I said “WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU CAN’T DO THAT!”

The closest share worker seemed as horrified as me and began urgently gathering the children and herding them into the closest classroom. The man doing the illegal spraying then said, “Oh they can come back out in a couple hours”.

THIS WAS THE BEGINING TO MY DUTY TO REMOVE THESE POISONS FROM OUR CHILDRENS CAMPUS. I am very familiar with the dangers and mis-management of pesticides and herbicides from my work in environmental conservation and I am also closely following the legal problems (including criminal) of Monsanto which exploded into the media this year when California opened the door to proceed with lawsuits saying that the very same products used at Bella Vista Elementary School are giving people cancer. The spraying that I witnessed was one of these products.