PMPs Urged to Contact Congress in Support of Rodenticide Use

WASHINGTON - The Rodenticide Task Force and National Pest Management Association are urging pest management professionals to contact members of Congress in support of justified, practical and science-based mitigation measures for rodenticides.

Eleven rodenticides are undergoing registration review by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA published its Proposed Interim Decision (PID) for rodenticides in November 2022 and gave stakeholders 75 days to weigh in on the proposed changes. More than 22,000 comments were submitted to the agency through February 13, 2023, when the comment period closed.

The agency proposed several label changes to protect non-target species and applicators, including:

• Reclassifying bulk rodenticides as restricted use pesticides (RUPs).
• The mandatory or advisory removal of rodent carcasses following rodenticide applications.
• Cancelling spot- and broadcast applications of some rodenticides to turf, lawns, parks, golf courses, campsites, and other recreational areas.
• Requiring applicators to consult Bulletins Live Two, an interactive map that identifies geographically specific pesticide use limitations, before applying rodenticide.
• Requiring additional personal protective equipment when handling some rodenticide formulations.

EPA expects to publish its final mitigation decisions on rodenticides sometime during its 2024 fiscal year, which runs October 2023 to September 2024. 

“We are concerned that this timeline does not provide the Agency with sufficient time to review stakeholder comments, engage in discussions, and carefully reconsider their proposals. We need your help in reaching out to your Representative and Senators to encourage EPA to take the time to work with registrants, product users, USDA and other federal agencies to ensure that mitigation measures for the rodenticides are reasonable, science-based and allow for all currently approved uses to continue,” states NPMA on its website. 

The website explains how to contact Congressional members and suggests language for doing so.

To learn how proposed rodenticide label changes may impact pest management professionals visit the Rodenticide Task Force website, and for a list of the of the mitigation measures EPA has proposed in each PID visit https://responsiblerodenticides.org/epa-proposed-changes/.