No puppy love?

Chalupa does not like pesticides. Neither does her owner, graduate student David Schwab.\n"Pesticides aren't good for anyone, but they are really bad for dogs," Schwab said.\nAll dogs are more susceptible to pesticides than humans by virtue of being closer to the ground, Schwab said. This is especially a problem for Chalupa, a two-pound teacup chihuahua who once got lost in the grass because it had not been recently mowed.\nSo Thursday afternoon, the pair took a stand on their combined six legs to help raise awareness for the problem as part of the newly founded IU Green Campus' "Pups Against Pesticides" event. About 10 members of the group and five of their canine friends gathered at the Sample Gates to recruit more members for the group. \n"It was a good way to begin the discussion about pesticides," founder and political science graduate student Sarah Combellick-Bidney said. \n"It got people's attention, especially with Chalupa's cuteness factor being through the roof."\nIU Green Campus was born after some students became concerned that a mutual acquaintance's health had been negatively affected by the use of pesticides at IU, Combellick-Bidney said. \n"When you go through the campus it smells so bad after they spray the pesticides," Betsy Caulfield said, clutching a stuffed dog of her granddaughter's. "It can't be good for anyone, not to mention little animals and small children running around."\nResearchers have found pesticide use can cause bladder cancer and lymphoma in dogs, Combellick-Bidney said. Though all the individual pesticides used today are safe, she said combinations of pesticides are not tested for safety.\n"Friends and people we know have said they feel sick after they (people) spray the pesticides," Combellick-Bidney said. "And we suspect there could be worse effects."\nIU uses the smallest amounts of pesticides and herbicides possible, said Mike Schrader, assistant manager of IU's Physical Plant. They also use the least toxic products possible and those with the least odor, Schrader said.\nMixing of different products is rare, Schrader said. Even when they are mixed occasionally, he does not think it would cause a problem.\n"I've never heard of any problems occurring from mixing pesticides," Schrader said. "And all the chemicals are regulated through the Indiana State Chemists, so if there were a potential side effect of mixing, there would be a warning."\nAlternative methods of pest control could greatly reduce the amount of pesticides used on campus, said Marc Lame, an entomologist and a clinical professor of environmental management in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs.\nIntegrated pest management, or IPM, is a system of controlling the insect populations without resorting to scheduled, blanket spraying of pesticides, said Lame, who has worked with other schools and the Environmental Protection Agency on IPM practices. IPM deals with insects by not attracting them in the first place and managing effected areas once a problem has been spotted.\n"IPM is not anti-pesticide," Lame said. "It is anti-unnecessary-use of pesticides."\nSchrader said his department has been using IPM techniques for years. For example, the department would plant vegetation that is naturally resistant to disease to lessen the amount of pesticides that had to be used, he said.\nStill, Schrader's is not the only department to use pesticides, Combellick-Bidney said. She said that with several other departments using pesticides, there is the potential for overlap. IU Green Campus would like to see a complete audit taken of all the products used on campus, as well as when, where and why they are used.\nSchrader said different departments are responsible for pest management in different areas of campus, such as the residence halls, academic buildings and athletic department. All products used are licensed by the state, he said.\nIU Green Campus would like to see the use of chemicals restricted to only those that are necessary, Combellick-Bidney said.\n"We want to work with the administration," Combellick-Bidney said. "We're not really working against the school. We want to have nice lawns; we just don't think that the kinds of chemicals are all necessary to have a beautiful campus"