A polite request sent to Chameleons Montessori....and ignored.

I sent this email to Emma Medell last week but I'm not getting any sort of acknowledgement from the school at all even after I hand delivered a letter detailing my concerns and need to keep Joel away until the school can be shown to be safe. I'm still awaiting an acknowledgement for that too!

Anyway, in the interest of documenting everything here's what I asked. I'll add the research papers I mentioned as soon as I figure out how to add pdf files to this blog site.

5 May 2010

Dear Emma,

I recall that mention has been made a number of time of an investigation started at the school early last year. I'd like to request a copy of this study or at least the details. I feel that this is a perfectly reasonable request seeing that my child's health is directly affected by the actions taken in light of this investigation.

I quote the following from correspondence from Mr Veller to TATIB on 10 & 11 March 2010.

"i am also in no way suggesting that there is no spray drift"

"The investigation that the school started early last year already did highlight the possible carcinogenic risk of Dithane and you will note that it is not on my spray list of 2009/2010. I did however spray Micexanil which includes some Mancozeb. I did this in consultation with my viticultural consultant who indicated that it and Folpan were possibly the only contact products with efficacy against downy mildew. As I am sure you are aware this is a major threat to growing wine grapes."

I would point out that the list of chemicals used, as provided by the school, does in fact include Dithane and that while I can appreciate Mr Veller's concerns over downy mildew my own concern has more to do with the proven threat of known carcinogens and neurodisruptors to my son.

Included also, are studies obtained from Pubmed ( a Medical research database ) that show that both Mancozeb and Folpan are to be considered serious and proven hazards.
Perhaps this information and the contents of this letter might be best assessed by your new Environmental Health Committee.

I look forward to seeing the results of your investigation at your earliest convenience.

sincerely,

Ford Hallam