A Southern California school district is temporarily halting the routine use of pesticides and herbicides on its campuses as concerns continue to grow over a cluster of rare childhood cancer cases in Orange County.
The Capistrano Unified School District announced Wednesday that it has implemented a 60-day pause on the routine use of landscape maintenance products and spray applications used for weed management while officials conduct a comprehensive review of the herbicides and pesticides currently approved for use.
The announcement comes just weeks after hundreds of residents packed a community meeting in Ladera Ranch, demanding answers about a string of rare cancer diagnoses affecting children who lived in the area.
Since 2007, about nine children connected to the Ladera Ranch community have been diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, a rare cancer that primarily affects children and young adults…