Company Challenges Rat Poison Ban

Reckitt Benckiser, maker of d-CON rat and mouse poisons, has requested an administrative hearing to avert a ban on 12 of its consumer-use d-CON products. The ban would have gone into effect on March 7 had the company not contested it. The 12 products in question “fail to comply with the EPA’s current safety standards and pose unreasonable risks to children, pets, and wildlife,” according to EPA. Reckitt Benckiser is the only one of more than 30 manufacturers of rat and mouse poisons that refused to adopt safety measures to reduce exposure of children and nontarget animals to the poisons, EPA says. Since 2011, EPA has required that rodent control products sold to consumers be enclosed in tamper-resistant bait stations and not contain certain anticoagulant chemicals that are toxic to wildlife. The 12 d-CON products are not enclosed in protective stations but rather are sold as pellets or powder. Eight also contain anticoagulants prohibited in consumer products.