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Toxic Pesticide Risk Is Seen for Public School Children By LYDIA POLGREEN hildren who live in public housing, go to public schools and play in parks in cities across the state are being exposed to high levels of toxic pesticides, according to a report released yesterday by Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. The study, which surveyed 15 parks, schools and public housing projects in New York City, Albany, Buffalo, Syracuse and Yonkers, as well as 73 shops, found …

…in parks. The survey, which was conducted in 2000, found that 8 of 10 housing projects in five cities applied pesticides regularly, rather than when pests became a problem. It found that 10 of the 14 schools surveyed used pesticides and that schools in New York City and Yonkers used chemicals of such toxicity that they could only be applied by certified applicators. The study also found that powerful illegal pesticides were often easily obtained at shops near public housing.