13
Mar
(Beyond Pesticides, March 13, 2013) On March 6, 2013, pesticide manufacturer Reckitt Benckiser Inc. requested a hearing in response to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Notice of Intent to Cancel 12 of the company’s d-CON mouse and rat poison products, delaying the ban that otherwise would have taken effect on March 7, 2013. This is the first time in more than 20 years that a company has declined to voluntarily implement EPA risk mitigation measures for pesticide products to ensure children are not exposed to what EPA identifies as an unacceptable risk. Reckitt Benckiser’s products would still be available to unknowing consumers until the case is resolved. In submitting its request for a hearing by an Administrative Law Judge, Reckitt Benckiser is preparing to waylay federal law by engaging in a legal battle with EPA that could drag on for many years. This comes after EPA announced its decision to go ahead and cancel rodenticide products not in compliance with EPA’s new mitigation measures to reduce exposures to children and wildlife. Unfortunately, until the case is resolved, Reckitt Benckiser will be allowed to continue selling 12 of its d-CON rat poisons, despite the products not being in compliance with […]
Posted in Corporations, Pesticide Regulation, Reckitt Benckiser, Rodenticide | No Comments »
01
Feb
(Beyond Pesticides, February 1, 2013) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its decision to go ahead with the cancellation of 12 rodenticide products which posed “unreasonable adverse effects on the environment.” The decision came after manufacturer Reckitt Benckiser’s refusal to adopt EPA safety standards for its d-CON mouse and rat control products. The action follows EPA’s Notice of Intent to Cancel (NOIC), issued in 2011, to Reckitt Benckiser and two other companies, Liphatech and Spectrum Group Division of United Industries Corporation, which voluntarily removed eight of their products from the market and were therefore not listed for cancelation by EPA. EPA requires that rodenticide products sold to individual consumers are in tamper-resistant bait stations, rather than in pellet or powder form. Additionally, EPA recognizes the risks that rodenticide products containing brodifacoum, bromadiolone, difethialone, and difenacoum pose to wildlife and will no longer allow them to be sold or distributed in the consumer market. However, use by professional applicators and in agriculture will still be permitted as long as they are in bait stations. EPA says this will reduce the amount of product in the environment, providing additional protection for wildlife from poisonings by these more toxic and persistent products. […]
Posted in Pesticide Regulation, Pets, Reckitt Benckiser, Rodenticide, Rodents | No Comments »
18
Dec
(Beyond Pesticides, December 18, 2012) Certain pesticide manufacturers are gearing up to try to block EPA’s attempts to cancel certain rodent poisons that are known to be hazardous to children and wildlife, including endangered species. After more than a decade of research and review, and an unacceptably high number of poisoning incidents, EPA has acknowledged that certain active ingredients are too dangerous to remain on the market, and is now requiring all remaining over-the-counter rodent control products to be in secured, tamper-resistant bait stations to reduce the incidents of accidental exposure to children. Granular and powdered products will be banned. But certain chemical companies are refusing to comply with EPA’s order and have indicated that they will challenge the agency’s decision. Every year, more than 10,000 children are exposed to rodent poison products, and the majority of calls to poison control centers concern children under the age of three. Despite the availability of alternatives, industry is leading a campaign against EPA’s decision, trying to scare communities into believing that they will be overrun with rodents and infested with disease if their products are not used. Meanwhile, less toxic rodent control products and those secured in bait stations are available, effective, […]
Posted in Alternatives/Organics, Children/Schools, Corporations, Disease/Health Effects, Pesticide Regulation, Rodenticide, Take Action, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | 3 Comments »
17
Dec
(Beyond Pesticides, December 17, 2012) Pets are frequently exposed to toxic chemicals used for lawn care, bug sprays, flea and tick products, and rodenticides. Recently, a dog ingested a zinc phosphide based pellet rodenticide, and threw up these toxic chemicals, creating a toxic gas that caused respiratory stress for four of the veterinary staff where the dog was being treated. The incident happened in Vail Valley Animal Hospital in Edwards, Colorado on December 7, and led to one emergency room veterinarian and three technicians being sent to the hospital. Sadly the dog did not survive after releasing this toxic gas. This is not the first incident of phosphine gas exposure at a veterinary clinic as a total of four have been reported from 2006 to 2011 in Michigan, Iowa, and Washington. When zinc phosphide is ingested and comes in contact with water it forms a poisonous gas. In a statement, the local fire protection district explained, “When the dog vomited, this released the [phosphine] gas as the pesticide had mixed with the contents in the dog’s stomach.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), inhalation of high concentrations of phosphine gas can be deadly and can cause […]
Posted in Disease/Health Effects, Rodenticide, Zinc Phosphide | 3 Comments »
05
Nov
(Beyond Pesticides, November 5, 2012) An ongoing study in the United Kingdom has found that in areas of southern England up to 75% of the rat population is potentially resistant to the common rodenticides warfarin, bromadiolone, and difenacoum. Pesticide resistance was documented in rats as early as the 1950’s. Common rodenticides used in homes already pose a high risk to human and animal health, but as more rodents become resistant to these pesticides individuals face the greater danger of pest control companies using higher doses of more lethal chemicals to deal with “super rats.” The rodenticides being tested in this study are anticoagulant pesticides that work by blocking vitamin K-dependent synthesis of the blood clotting substance prothrombin. These chemicals cause the animal to bleed to death internally. Not only are these chemicals toxic to mammals, but they are often used in dangerous loose bait and pellet traps. These traps put children at particular risk for exposure because the products are typically placed on floors, and young children sometimes put bait pellets in their mouths. The American Association of Poison Control Centers annually receives between 12,000 and 15,000 reports of children under the age of six being exposed to these types […]
Posted in Chemicals, Pests, Resistance, Rodenticide, Rodents | No Comments »
09
Aug
(Beyond Pesticides, August 9, 2012) On Monday, Beyond Pesticides joined with 23 public health and environmental advocacy groups to send a letter to the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), urging it to follow through with its original plan to cancel the sale of most toxic rat poisons to residential consumers. In 2008, after over a decade of these products being on the market and widely available to consumers, EPA gave manufactures three years to comply with new risk mitigation requirements for rat poisons. However, the companies Reckitt Benckiser, Liphatech, and Spectrum Brands, producers of d-Con, Rid-a-Rat, and Hot Shot each decided to flout EPA requirements and ignore compliance with the regulations. The letter urges EPA to follow through with its ”˜Notice of Intent to Cancel’. It also instructs the agency to issue an order for emergency suspension of these products under FIFRA section 6(c), based on evidence of imminent hazard to human health and to wildlife. While the cancellation of these products will better safeguard the health of children, pets, and wildlife, EPA’s risk mitigation requirements do not go far enough to ensure protections for vulnerable populations. Children are particularly at risk for exposure because young children sometimes put bait […]
Posted in Brodificoum, Corporations, Mice, Pesticide Regulation, Rodenticide, Rodents | 1 Comment »
09
Jun
(Beyond Pesticides, June 9, 2011) Earlier this week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it is moving to ban the sale of most toxic rat and mouse poisons, as well as most loose bait and pellet products, to residential consumers decades after these products were first introduced to the public. Though these rules will better protect children, pets and wildlife, the changes do not go far enough for vulnerable populations, because they will still be allowed by pesticide applicators and in agricultural settings. Children are particularly at risk for exposure to rat and mouse poisons because the products are typically placed on floors, and because young children sometimes place bait pellets in their mouths. The American Association of Poison Control Centers annually receives between 12,000 and 15,000 reports of children under the age of six being exposed to these types of products. Beyond Pesticides urges consumers not to use poisons for rodent control indoors, but rather advocates the use of traps and nonchemical exclusion techniques that eliminate food and water sources and entryways. In 2008, EPA released its final risk mitigation decision for ten rodenticides, with new measures intended to protect children and the public from accidental poisonings […]
Posted in Brodificoum, Pesticide Regulation, Rodenticide, Rodents | No Comments »
15
Dec
(Beyond Pesticides, December 15, 2010) Every year, more than 10,000 kids are poisoned by rodenticides (pesticides made to kill rodents) and virtually all of the calls to U.S. poison control centers concern children under six. New rules and restrictions set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will go into effect next June in an attempt to prevent incidents involving children, but do not go far enough to protect children or wildlife. EPA has known for a generation that children have easy access to these super-toxic rat poisons. Every year, more than 10,000 kids are getting a hold of them, with Black and Hispanic children living below the poverty line being disproportionately affected. Records show that the EPA is aware that children have been getting into these poisons in significant numbers, according to data since 1983. Between 2004 and 2008, U.S. poison control centers continued to receive 10,000 to 14,000 calls about the rat killers annually. EPA has estimated that these incidents reported to poison control centers probably account for only about one-fourth of all exposures. On average, about 3,700 of these cases are treated by medical professionals each year, according to reports of the American Association of Poison Control […]
Posted in Children/Schools, Pesticide Regulation, Rodenticide, Rodents, Wildlife/Endangered Sp. | 1 Comment »
08
Apr
(Beyond Pesticides, April 8, 2010) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is requiring new restrictions on aluminum and magnesium phosphide products in an attempt to better protect people, especially children, from dangerous exposures. The new restrictions prohibit all uses of the products around residential areas and increase buffer zones for treatment around non-residential buildings that could be occupied by people or animals from 15 feet to 100 feet. Human exposure to these toxic chemicals, though slightly minimized, would nevertheless continue because of their continued availability for use on athletic fields and playgrounds, around non-residential buildings, and in agricultural production. Phosphide fumigants are known to be highly acutely toxic when ingested or inhaled. Symptoms of mild to moderate acute exposure include nausea, abdominal pain, tightness in chest, excitement, restlessness, agitation and chills. Symptoms of more severe exposure include diarrhea, cyanosis, difficulty breathing, pulmonary edema, respiratory failure, tachycardia (rapid pulse) and hypotension (low blood pressure), dizziness and/or death. Aluminum and magnesium phosphide fumigants are used primarily to control insects in stored grain and other agricultural commodities. They also are used to control burrowing rodents in outdoor agricultural and other non-domestic areas. The fumigants are restricted to use by specially trained pesticide applicators. […]
Posted in aluminum phosphide, Children/Schools, Fumigants, magnesium phosphide, Pesticide Regulation, Phosphine, Rodenticide, Rodents | No Comments »
04
Jun
(Beyond Pesticides, June 4, 2008) On May 29, 2008, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its final risk mitigation decision for ten rodenticides, which outlines new measures it says will help protect children and the public from accidental poisonings as well as to decrease exposures to pets and wildlife from rodent-control products. However, because the decision omits key uses, allows continued applicator use of dangerous formulations, and recognizes a lack of product efficacy without a fully integrated program (yet does not require it on the label), environmentalists feel the final risk mitigation decision falls short of adequately protecting the health of people, wildlife and the environment.EPA is requiring that ten rodenticides used in bait products marketed to consumers be enclosed in bait stations, making the pesticide inaccessible to children and pets, and is also prohibiting the sale of loose bait, such as pellets, for use in homes. These ten rodenticides are: Ӣ Brodifacoum Ӣ Bromadiolone Ӣ Bromethalin Ӣ Chlorophacinone Ӣ Cholecalciferol Ӣ Difenacoum Ӣ Difethialone Ӣ Diphacinone Ӣ Warfarin Ӣ Zinc phosphide Exposure to children is also a major concern for these chemicals. According to the 2006 Annual Report of the American Association Poison Control Centers’ National Poison Data […]
Posted in Announcements, Antibacterial, International, Pesticide Regulation, Rodenticide, Rodents | 1 Comment »
