Seventeen Senators have joined with Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) in requesting the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider aspects of a proposal to restrict rodenticides.  This action would designate eleven rodenticides as Restricted Use Pesticides. This would restrict  use to state-certified applicators and would involve control of bait stations.

The request to the EPA included, “The Agency should take time to work with stakeholders to ensure that any new mitigation measures for rodenticides do not jeopardize the ability of users to protect the food supply, public health, property and infrastructure.”

While it is recognized that certain pesticides should be restricted based on their impact on wildlife and the environment, the use of anticoagulant rodenticides within poultry houses does not represent a problem.  Mice and rats living in houses consume bait and die within these units decomposing in manure pits. This precludes consumption by free-living animals and birds.  Exterior bait stations do, however, represent a potential problem since retrieval of dead rodents is generally impossible. 

Given that rodents are reservoirs and disseminators of a number of disease agents including Salmonella, their presence in poultry houses also represents a potential human health problem. Blanket restrictions that would presumably benefit wildlife will be to the detriment of egg production and food safety.  If the EPA issues a rule as intended, many of the provisions would be in conflict with FDA requirements under the Final Rule for Salmonella in eggs. Accordingly an exemption should be allowed for the use of specified rodenticides within structurally sound and rodent-proofed poultry housing.