Politics & Government

Mayor Pro Tem Says Malibu High Uses Pesticides Appropriately

Laura Zahn Rosenthal challenges the content of a Malibu Patch blog critical of the high school's use of pesticides. She says the writer did not investigate the situation.

Editor's Note: The following comments were made by Mayor Pro Tem Laura Zahn Rosenthal at Monday's  meeting. These are her exact words. No changes have been made.

There were a couple of issues I wanted to talk about. The first one was an article that—it wasn't an article; it was , and then I believe  followed up on it, about some pesticides at , and there were some issues raised about that. Unfortunately, these things were written about without any investigation into really what the procedures are and what the truth is. And so, I am kind of taking it upon myself now to tell you what the issues are.

And I want to thank Bob Stallings, the head of our  here, for helping me with this as well as speaking to the principal at Malibu High as well as speaking with Board of Education members. And with a little research, this is what the writers could have found out—that there has been a big problem with ground squirrels at Malibu High School, not on the fields, but in the hillsides. And actually the school had gotten a notice from the county to take care of this problem. They were running amuck, I guess would be a good word to describe it.

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And that the school district—like our city, like LAUSD—follows what California Safe Schools organization recommends, which is called an IPM, which is a pest management strategy that focuses on long-term prevention and suppression of pest problems through a combination of techniques. But because they do use what's called a toxin, they have to put up certain warnings.

But I was glad to know that the toxin that they do use is a toxin that is in pellet form. It is put down a hole. The holes are covered up so nothing gets out. The ground squirrels that do eat them die. But the poison does not stay in their bodies, so that if they die above ground and another animal eats them, there is nothing left to affect the other animal, whether it be a coyote, a dog, a bird or anything like that.

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And I really encourage people if they have questions about this or they see something that disturbs them, rather than yelling fire, to find out the correct information, then maybe they can pass that along to the other members of our community. 

 


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