Hear the personal story of Jamie Armstrong, a 10-year-old girl in Halifax, Nova Scotia, who developed a rash and serious asthma as a baby after her apartment was sprayed for cockroaches. Years later, Jamie still has severe asthmatic and allergic reactions when neighbors spray their yards with pesticides. When a ban on pesticides was proposed in Halifax, Jamie was one of more than 100 people to testify before the Halifax City Council to support the ban. Partly as a result of Jamie's testimony, Halifax became the first major North American city to ban the use of pesticides for lawn or garden use. Video segment adapted from Playing with Poison. Includes background essay and discussion questions. [2:26]

Concepts

pesticides

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Additional Tags

pbs learningmedia, pbs learningmedia: environmental public health: groundbreaking pesticide ban, health effects of pesticides, insecticides and pesticides

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Classroom Considerations

• Knovation Readability Score: 5 (1 low difficulty, 5 high difficulty)
• The intended use for this resource is Instructional