The Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that it’s moving to ban the sale of a dozen rat and mouse poisons sold under the popular D-Con brand in an effort to protect children and pets.
The agency said this morning that among all the makers of rat poisons available in the United States, only d-Con’s manufacturer refused to adopt safer packaging standards.
Two years ago, the EPA targeted a handful of companies, saying they needed to develop new products that are safer for children, pets and wildlife. All but Reckitt Benckiser Inc., manufacturer of D-Con, did so.
Accordingly, the EPA announced today it plans to cancel the rodenticide registration for the company’s products, which will effectively forbid their sale.
The company will have at least 30 days to request a hearing before an administrative law judge. If no hearing is requested, the ban will take effect.
In the meantime, stores can still sell the products – and consumers can still use them, although the EPA advises them not to, as the agency says that approximately 10,000 children are accidentally exposed to rodent poison a year.
D-Con products can be found at most retail stores. The following products are those the EPA wants banned: d-Con Concentrate, Ready Mixed, Ready Mixed Generation II, Mouse Prufe, Mouse Prufe II, Mouse Prufe III, Pellets, Pellets Generation II, Bait Pellets II, Bait Pellets III, Ready Mix Baitbits, and Bait Packs III.
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