Rat Poison Manufacturers Flout Government Safety Rules – Act Now!

Three companies have refused to comply with a government order to stop selling certain super-toxic rat poisons in formulations that can harm children, birds, other wildlife, dogs, and cats. The recalcitrant companies include the world’s largest producer of household cleaning products, Reckitt Benckiser, and the pet-care products manufacturer, Spectrum Brands. Will you help us tell these companies that their behavior is not acceptable?

Most pest-control product manufacturers have made the required safety improvements, encasing their rat poisons in bait stations that prevent access by children and pets, and restricting the sale of “second generation” rodenticides that can cause fatal hemorrhaging in owls, Bald Eagles and other wildlife. Most recently, a Red-tailed Hawk, the mate of the renowned and beloved Pale Male, was killed in New York City.

These three companies have spurned government directives, continuing to market their poisons as loose pellets and pastes rather than in bait stations, and to peddle to residential consumers the most toxic formulations.

UPDATE: Reckitt Benckiser has responded to the citizen pressure with a letter to ABC trying to justify their actions. Join us in telling Reckitt Benckiser that we don’t buy their excuses!

Red-tailed Hawk, Pale Male by Jeremy Seto

Please enter your information and send your comments. We have drafted a letter for you, but your additional thoughts will really make an impact.

Subject:

Your Letter:

Dear Mr. Rakesh Kapoor, Mr. David Lumley, and Mr. Carl Tanner,

Over the past 14 years, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has accumulated a vast amount of scientific documentation on the poisoning of children, pets, and wildlife by your super-toxic rat poisons, sold under the brand names d-CON, Hot Shot, Rid-a-Rat, and Generation.  These exceptionally potent rodenticides can cause injury and death in people and in animals.

In 2008, the EPA ordered you to stop selling 20 rodenticide products to consumers in loose formulations such as pellets; you were instructed instead to encase the poisons in bait stations to protect children and pets.  In addition, EPA concluded that you should no longer sell directly to consumers 11 of these products that contain “second generation” anti-coagulants, given the toll on owls, eagles, and other animals that eat the poisoned rodents.

The 2008 EPA risk-mitigation decision was a compromise between manufacturers and American Bird Conservancy, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and other groups.  The second-generation rodenticides could still be used by professional exterminators and by employees of farms, warehouses, and other commercial installations.  The EPA gave you three years to comply.

Other rat-poison manufacturers have replaced their products with safer, effective, economically-viable alternatives, but your companies have fought the implementation of measures that would protect children and animals from these dangerous chemicals.  ABC is particularly disturbed that the manufacturer of French’s mustard, Lysol, and Woolite, Reckitt Benckiser, refuses to protect kids from accidental poisonings despite the company’s highly publicized relationship with Save the Children.  We are also aware that Spectrum Brands owns several major pet-care product companies.  We are perplexed that a company that capitalizes on public concern for animals would insist on producing products that needlessly kill pets and wildlife.

We urge you to stop selling rat poisons that harm children, dogs, cats, birds, and other wildlife.  Other companies have switched to safer alternatives.  You can, too.

Sincerely,

Rakesh Kapoor, CEO

Reckitt Benckiser

David Lumley, CEO

Spectrum Brands

Carl Tanner, CEO

Liphatech