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Plastic rat boxes and old-fashioned snap and electric traps are also
preferable to poisoning, he said, because they do not allow the pointynosed
critters to run off somewhere and contaminate other species.
The demand letter, which was sent to Ann Prichard, the state's
pesticide registration chief, comes one year after the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency declared it would begin the process of banning lethal
anticoagulants used in rodent control products. The EPA move came
shortly after the California Department of Fish and Game asked state
regulators to designate second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides
restricted materials.
Effects on wildlife
Despite unanimous concern, no new statewide regulations have been
adopted and three companies - Reckitt Benckiser, which makes D-Con;
the Spectrum Group division of United Industries Corp., which makes Hot
Shot and Rid-a-Rat; and Liphatech Inc., which makes Generation rodent
control products - still use toxic ingredients.
Lea Brooks, the spokeswoman for the Department of Pesticide
Regulation, said staff scientists have prepared a draft analysis of the effect
rodenticides in bait products have on wildlife. The study, which is under
review by University of California scientists, is expected to be completed
in February.
"We have been evaluating rodenticide for some time at the request of
the Department of Fish and Game," Brooks said. State pesticide regulators
are "very concerned about the effect of these rodenticides on wildlife.
Once the analysis has been finalized, we will consider what additional
measures are needed to protect wildlife from the effect of these products."
Recent studies by UC researchers found second-generation
anticoagulants in 70 percent of the mammals and 68 percent of the birds
that were examined. Another study found rodenticide contamination in 75
percent of the Pacific fishers that were tested, Evans said.
Fish and Game biologists have documented poisonings in raptors and
several mammals, including the endangered San Joaquin kit fox. Mountain
lions and bobcats in the Santa Monica Mountains in Southern California