Nor is she enamored with the idea of switching to bromethalin. "There is no antidote," she says, noting that this makes the compound a potential risk to children and pets. AR poisoning, by contrast, can be treated using vitamin K.

Better policy, says Fairbrother, might be to ban permanent bait stations and to require pest-control operators to use ARs only as needed. Consumers should also be told about the potential ecological effects of such compounds.

"We know consumers can comprehend and respond to warnings about wildlife exposures," says Fairbrother. A few years ago, she adds, a survey asked consumers whether they knew that rodenticides could affect non-target wildlife. "They had no idea," she says. But once alerted, their response was, "Now that I know, I’m going to be a lot more careful about how I use them".

This article is reproduced with permission from the magazine Nature. The article was first published on November 14, 2012.

5 Comments

1. 1. slaven41 04:08 PM 11/15/12

   Unless you happen to be bleeding, how does an anticoagulent kill?

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2. 2. Uniformity 12:40 PM 11/16/12

   I think internal bleeding and fixing of cells by blood could be affected.

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3. 3. RalphD 11:33 AM 11/17/12

   Look, when you put a poison into the environment, it causes harm. It poisons things.
   
   Don't use poisons if there is any possible alternative.

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4. 4. Uniformity 03:31 PM 11/17/12

   I wonder if they overlooked a key alternative. If the birds of prey are eating these rats why not use birds of prey to control population of the rats, I guess it would a better solution.

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5. 5. bud11 11:50 AM 12/8/12

   anticoagulants kill by accumulating to the point where they cause spontaneous hemorrhage into abdomen, brain, or other internal organs

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