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The
Pesticide Control Program worked with Senate sponsors,
school officials, industry, and the NJ Environmental Federation
to help develop the bill signed into law by Governor McGreevey
which requires the pest control strategy of IPM to be
adopted and implemented in all schools in NJ. IPM requires
many approaches to be used to effectively control pests,
not solely relying on the routine use of pesticides. Overall,
this approach should decrease pesticide use and potential
exposure to teachers, staff and students (children being
a sensitive population to chemical hazards) in the school
environment. When pesticides are used, a notification
scheme to parents, staff and students is required. The
law directs the Department to develop by December 2003
a model IPM policy for schools to follow, and directs
schools to adopt and implement the policy by July 2004.
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