Young children exposed to pesticides are at risk for long-term cognitive, neurological, respiratory, and developmental problems. Interventions to reduce pesticide exposure in child care have focused on integrated pest management (IPM) but have not measured classroom pesticide levels at baseline and post-intervention.

Our NIEHS-funded randomized control trial aims to reduce preschool-age children's exposure to pesticides in child care centers. Eighty-eight centers serving diverse children will be enrolled over 5 years. Four Northern California counties were randomized to the IPM or attention-control, physical activity intervention, comprised of an educational workshop, materials, and site-specific health consultation over seven months. We will present preliminary findings from Years 1-2, including IPM practices and classroom pesticide levels measured in dust samples.

Baseline and post-intervention measures include director interviews, self-efficacy surveys, family surveys, observations of IPM policies, practices, presence of pests, and pesticide products, and dust samples analyzed for 16 pesticides.

In Year 1, we found detectable levels of 10 insecticides in carpet dust sampled from 11 child care centers (n=21 samples). The organophosphate chlorpyrifos, and the pyrethroids cis- and trans-permethrin were measured in 100% of samples, indicating widespread exposure in these facilities. For this presentation, we will have analyzed dust samples from another 21 classrooms, increasing our power to detect differences between intervention and control groups.

This session promotes APHA's mission by improving early childhood environments and supporting children who are healthy and ready to learn upon entering kindergarten. Our findings can be translated into practice for nurses, health educators, and child care providers.