Common household rat poisons found to pose unacceptable risk to wildlife as animal advocates push for ban | Pesticides

Widely available rat poisons pose unacceptable risks to native wildlife, according to a government review that stunned animal advocates and stopped short of recommending a blanket ban on the products.

The long-awaited review of first- and second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (FGARs and SGARs) has recommended the cancellation of some products, but a wide range of waxes, pellets and blocks can continue to be sold to consumers subject to stricter labeling and conditions of use.

Baits containing anticoagulant rodenticides are widely available in supermarkets and garden shops such as Bunnings, Coles and Woolworths.

The baits have come under scrutiny because they have been found on dead native animals, such as tawny frogmouths, mighty owls, and feathered birds that eat poisonous rats and mice.

Second-generation products are more toxic and are banned from public sale in the United States and parts of Canada and are highly restricted in the European Union.

Consumers can identify SGARs in Australia by checking if it contains any of the following active ingredients: brodifacoum, bromadiolone, difethialone, difenacoum and flocoumafen. There are three FGAR active ingredients registered for use in Australia: warfarin, coumatetralyl and difacinone.

Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA), review The report, published on Tuesday, recommended temporarily suspending SGARs while public consultations on the proposals continue. If the suspension continues, APVMA said affected products could still be used, but only in accordance with the stricter recommended conditions.

“If suspended, the import or manufacture of SGARs would be illegal. They can only be sold if they meet strict new conditions on pack size and use,” a spokesman said.

BirdLife Australia’s Holly Parsons said the review “does not go far enough and seriously fails to address secondary poisoning (e.g. a native bird eating a poisoned mouse) that kills owls and birds of prey.”

“Despite overwhelming evidence supporting the complete removal of SGARs from public sale, we have yet to see proposals for restrictions that come close to achieving this,” Parsons said.

He said consumers should be able to “enter stores with the assumption that the products offered to them will not inadvertently kill native animals,” but the APVMA “places the onus on the consumer with the expectation that labels are fully read and followed, and we know that will not be the case.”

The review also recommended that anticoagulant rodenticide baits, which come in powder and liquid forms or do not contain dyes or stinging substances, be deregistered on the grounds that they do not meet safety criteria.

But it found that other feeds sold as waxes, pellets and blocks could continue to be sold to consumers with some changes in labeling and terms of use.

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The APVMA found that under “existing guidance” it could not be satisfied that such products would not have undesirable, harmful effects on non-target animals, including native wildlife, or pose undue safety risks to those who use them, including vulnerable persons such as children.

But it found that product registration conditions and other “relevant details” could be changed to enable the authority to “ensure that products meet safety criteria”.

Some of the proposed new guidelines would include restricting mouse baits to indoor use only in tamper-proof bait stations; placing outdoor mouse baits in tamper-proof stations six feet outside the building; changes in package sizes; and stricter instructions for cleaning and disposal of carcasses and uneaten feed.

The recommendations are subject to three months of public consultation before the authority makes a final decision.

John White is an associate professor of wildlife and conservation biology at Deakin University. In 2023, he worked with a team of researchers studying dead tawny frogmouths and rat poison in owls; found that 95% of frogmouths had rodenticides in their livers, and 68% of frogmouths tested had levels of liver rodenticides that would cause death or significant toxicological effects.

He said the authority’s proposed changes failed to properly address the issue that SGARS was “too toxic” from an environmental perspective.

Even if the authority tightens terms of use and labeling rules, there’s no guarantee consumers will comply with the new instructions, White said. “We need to ban these things completely, not tamper with their edges,” he said.

A spokesperson for Woolworths said the supermarket would await final advice from the APVMA “to work with its suppliers to take a responsible approach to these products”.

They said the chain stocks “a small range of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticide products for customers who may have problems with rats or mice in their homes, businesses and particularly in rural areas where it is important for customers to have access to these products” and also sells “a range of alternative options”.

Bunnings and Coles declined to comment.