First Email From TATIB to Montessori Parents

8/9/2019 First Email From TATIB to Montessori Parents

1/3

Page I of 3

Ford HallamFrom: "Brendon Bailes" To:Cc:Sent:

; ; "'CIaire Goffe-Wood"' 12 March 2010 02:45PMSubiect: RE: Allegations re exposure to pesticides : Montessori schoolAre we going to ta[e this recklbss article and let it influence our school reputation?Has every parent been notified?Brendon BailesFrom : Tatib Foundation [mailto :[email protected]]Sentr Friday, March L2,20LO 2:15 PMTo: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected];joosthu izen@ problemsolved.co.zaSubject: Allegations re exposure to pesticides : Montessori schoolImpoftance: High

W*r*dwids 3S rnifl*sR pe*pl*irr p *s*ned hy p#stl{id*s.;,.. *s*'ry yg&r"

www tffitrh q:r# xsl&rt trStr1ffint #to

ytrrr c*{rld h* n#xtlDear parentsTowards the end of last year, we received a couple of complaints alleging that the children at theabovementioned school were often caught in spray drift, when the adjacent vineyards of Nitidawere sprayed by means of tractror pulled "mist blowing" centrifugal crop sprayers.We immediately contacted "Fmma" who told us that during the spraying the children wereconfined indoors with all doors and windows firmly closed - in other words they would not comeinto contact with ay spray drift residue. We explained to Emma that even if the children wereconfined indoors, this would not mean that they would not be exposed to potentially toxicresidues, that settle on the lawns and other surfaces. Most pesticides have residue levels rangingfrom a couple of days up to 100 days depending on the pesticide used. We have welldocumented cases where for example, acute contact dermatitis has been diagnosed after exposureto laundry left on a washing line was caught in spray drift.Children eat and drink more, they have higher metabolisms and they play outdoors, touchingobjects and then putting their hands in their mouthes. The fact that your children and allegedlybrought indoors during the spraying is not a guarantee that they are not going to be exposed topotentially toxic pesticides.Emma asked us to email her further information, which we did - and in this regard neverreceived the courtesy of a response.

-:,.**E!I{t

riF|hht

,fl fi.*rg

;*enr l $r{ r* tt)i;'

1O/JunelzAIA


2/3

Page2 of 3

A couple of weeks ago, we agarn heard more "rumours" of a teacher that had fallen ill and could nolonger work, of some children falling ill and of toxicolgy tests done on one child that revealedexposure to pesticides . There were even allegations that Emma's daughter had also had healthproblems, due to the spraying, and that she had been moved to another school.We followed up with yet another email to the school and then also to the President of Montessori SA-Needless to say Emma did not respond and has not responded despite the fact that the President saidthat she has urged her to contact Tatib.And so we contacted the farm, and spoke with Kerry, who uidertook to furnish us with details as towhat has been sprayed. When a week had gone by and we had not heard from her, we phoned heragain yesterday. As a result of this we have managed to obtain the "spray list" from the farm and quitefrankly horriefied at the toxicity of some of the products ttrat have been sprayed.Folpan & Dithane ( two of the products that have been sprayed ) are both on 3 internationalcarcinogen lists , endocrine disruptor lists & developmental I Reproductive Toxin lists, according tostudies done by the Pesticide Action Network North America. Professor Leslie London :Occupational health & safety i Family medicine UCT has stated that Dithane contains Mancozeb,which contains fuIanganese and that Manganese is aNeurotoxin.Folpan's'Material Safety Data Sheets make specific reference to the fact that laboratory mice exposedto the product developed tumours. The American Product Label makes specific reference to the factthat this product may under no circumstances be sprayed near children, schools, parks, public placesand may not be used in the domestic garden.The farm has, in writing, stated the following : " The investigation that the school stafted early last yearalready did highlight the possible carcinogenic isk of Dithane"This "admission" by the farm seems to indicate that the school has been made aware of the toxicity ofsome of these products, and that this was already done early in 2009, yet since then the children havecontinued to be be exposed to potentially toxic pesticides and that the school appears to be "downplaying" the severity of the allegations.From Tatib's persepctive there is more than enough proof and case studies done on the harmful effectsof exposure to pesticides, and that children are particularly at risk.Act 36 of 1947 appears to have been broken - spray drift of agricultural chemicals(pesticides/fungicides/lrerbicides) is not allowed to be blown into an area not under treatment - in thiscase the school.Whilst your children may not show serious symptoms right now, we have received reports of red anditchy eyes, upper respiratory tract irritation & infections, asthma and bronchitis. The really seriousproblems, like endocrine disruption, neurological damage and eventually cancer, take years todevelop.Ygu as parents need to do something to protect the health of your children, before it is too late.We urge you to network amongst one another - get this email out to as many parents as possible.Whilst we cannot verifu what we have heard is in fact true or not, the fact that the school is situatedon a working wine farm is a very serious problem as case studies have shown that spray drift can beblown up to 3lar , depending of course on humidity , wind strength etc. The current menthod ofspraying"blows mist" and the pesticide is dicharged at anozzle speed of up to 630 Km/I{ and at atateof up to 8000litres per hectare.

10/Junan}rc


3/3

Page 3 of 3

Kindly go and takc a look at the links below and then also read the attached files.regardsThe Tatib Foundation

www. thg grg enfill}e.q . co' zaard

No virus found in this incoming message'Ghecked by AVG -www.dvg.comVersion: 9.0.790 Mrus Di6base:271.1.1t2739 - Release Date:.O3/11/10 23:50:00

wwlv . tatib fo und-ati o n.b I qg sp of . co {nhtto://www.urba

No virus found inthis incoming message'Checked by AVG - www.avg.comVersion: 9.0.733/ Virus Datibase: 271.1.112739 - Release Date: 03111170 23:50:00

l0/Junel}01'A

First Email From TATIB to Montessori Parents

Documents