In 2003, a 46-year-old man was admitted to a U.S. hospital after exhibiting a variety of symptoms. At first, doctors thought the man -- whose name and city were withheld in records kept by the American Association of Poison
In 2003, a 46-year-old man was admitted to a U.S. hospital after exhibiting a variety of symptoms. At first, doctors thought the man -- whose name and city were withheld in records kept by the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) -- was suffering from a kidney stone, and the hospital admitted him for observation. But the patients condition deteriorated rapidly. He started bleeding internally, with massive hemorrhaging inside his skull. Just two days after arriving at the hospital, he was dead. After his death, doctors found in his body a high concentration of brodifacoum, a widely used rat poison.
The grotesque death was not unique: Between 2001 and 2003, the AAPCC reported nearly 60,000 cases nationwide of poisonings by rodenticides, more than for any other pesticide. Roughly 250 of those exposures each year resulted in serious outcomes, including deaths. And the deaths were horrific: Rat poisons kill by anticoagulation -- they disrupt normal clotting until blood vessels in effect explode.
Many of these incidents involve children because the poisons often come in the form of pellets that are placed as bait on the floor. Kids will put everything into their mouths, says Dr. Alan H. Lockwood, a professor of neurology at the University at Buffalo and an expert on pesticides. These agents are very dangerous. And theyre available over the counter to anyone. Not surprisingly, many poison experts, national medical groups, and consumer advocacy organizations believe rat poisons should be regulated -- with, for instance, the most powerful poisons restricted solely to industrial users. Aaron Colangelo, an attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), points out that tighter regulations would most benefit poor children. Its a demographic issue, too, he says. Statistics show [rat poison] is more of a risk for kids living below the poverty line, because there are more rats in these communities, and public housing managers are more careless with the poisons.
Nevertheless, the Environmental Protection Agency has done little to prevent these disasters. In fact, over the past four years the EPA has allowed the agricultural services and products industry -- which, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, has contributed nearly $15 million to GOP candidates since 2000 -- to crush any chance at regulation.
Once upon a time, the EPA evidently had good intentions. In the late 1990s, the agency began requiring rodenticide manufacturers to add a bitter taste to their poisons. It also required the use of dyes, which would stain the hands and mouths of kids, alerting their parents that theyd gotten into something unusual. Meanwhile, the agencys career scientists began preparing a full assessment of the dangers, which was completed in September 2001. In keeping with standard procedure, the report was to be made available to the pesticide industry and the public for up to 90 days, allowing interested parties to review it. The document, which said rat poisons were toxic to nontarget species -- that is, humans and other animals -- presented strong evidence for limiting the sale of some of the chemicals to licensed users.
But in a departure from normal procedures, the EPA held the comment process open for more than a year. During this period, it allowed the pesticide industry, organized in a coalition called the Rodenticide Regis