By Geena Molinaro, Special Writer
MONTGOMERY — A publication naming Orchard Hill Elementary School students at potential risk to pesticide exposure is incorrect, Business Administrator Tom Venanzi said on Thursday morning.
The Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit environmental research group based in Washington, D.C., published an article on Aug. 14 claiming students at 487 elementary schools across America could be at an increased risk of herbicide exposure should corn and soybean farms use a new weed killer. These schools are supposedly within a 200-foot radius of one or more of these farms, according to the group.
The group alleges proximity to these fields is dangerous to young children because they are more vulnerable to the "toxic herbicide 2,4-D," a component of the weed killer Enlist Duo.
Enlist Duo is awaiting an "issuance of a Record of Decision" by the U.S. Department of Agriculture before it receives regulatory approval, according to a press release from producer Dow AgroSciences.
Even though Orchard Hill made the group’s list, students are not at risk, Mr. Venanzi said, because no corn or soybean crops surround the school.
"We have a dairy farm to the south, a horse farm to the west, a resident to the east and district-owned land to the north," he said.
The group also cited Village Elementary School as being within 1,000 feet of a corn or soybean farm. Mr. Venanzi said this information is also incorrect. The school is located in Somerset County owned Skillman Park and is near a sod farm, he said.
The district has asked the group to correct the report, Mr. Venanzi said.
At the bottom of the group’s post, it acknowledged that "spatial analyses of this kind may include some level of error, such as incorrect or outdated school or crop field locations or boundaries."
The group also wrote it was willing to correct any errors in the data that would affect the analysis.
NJTVNews issued a report on Tuesday of the group’s study. Correspondent Christie Duffy had contacted the district, but Mr. Venanzi was away, he said, and unable to talk with Ms. Duffy.
Mr. Venanzi said it was "unfortunate" that a story with incorrect information had been published and the district has asked for the story to be corrected. As of Thursday afternoon, the NJTVNews story had not been changed online.
Although the story is not widespread at this time, Mr. Venanzi said the district will have to do "damage control" due to the incorrect information.
According to Dow AgroSciences, the Environmental Working Group’s "inflammatory claims represent an irresponsible attempt to proliferate misinformation that has previously been debunked, on multiple occasions, in extensive, published regulatory evaluations."

