Any fertilizer salesman will tell you that colleges and universities and public institutions of that size are some of the best customers for weed abatement products and chemicals. Unfortunately all too often a non-English-speaking landscaper will mix the product to strong and use way too much on the grounds at colleges.

We also know the college students will often sit on the grass and do study. This poses a huge problem as the abatement of weeds at colleges and the neurotoxins there are in those chemicals can cause damage to the human bio system. If we're going to employ non-English-speaking groundskeepers and landscape contractors in our public institutions, then they will need training in their foreign language to insure that they know how to properly used these chemicals and they need to pass certification tests.

It is way too easy for someone who cannot read all label in English and has a bit of trouble communicating with others and managers to overuse a product, fertilizer or an abatement chemical. We need to be serious about these things and understand that any communication issues are not an excuse for spreading poisons in dangerous amounts onto the grounds at colleges and universities.

This is not to say that weed abatement is not a good idea, as it does have its place; what is important is that the right ratio of chemicals and mixture is applied and no more than that. Consider all this in 2006.