AR-News: (U.S.) rat-poison industry's influence on EPA regs

[Mary Finelli]

I SMELL A RAT
Rat Poison Industry Had Undue Influence on EPA Regs, Say Critics
Daily Grist, April 15, 2004

Makers of rat poison were allowed to influence, and in some cases rewrite, 
two U.S. EPA regulatory initiatives meant to make their products safer, 
according to environmental and consumer-safety organizations.  The first 
initiative was proposed by the EPA under President Clinton in 1998, when the 
agency said it would allow rat-poison use as long as the industry added a 
bittering agent to make the taste less attractive to non-rat creatures -- 
like, say, kids -- and a dye to make it easier to tell if a child had 
ingested some.  After extensive consultations with the pesticide industry, 
the agency announced in 2001 that, well, never mind about the whole dye and 
bittering-agent thing.  Meanwhile, the EPA was moving forward on a study of 
the environmental dangers of rat poison, which frequently kills deer and 
other wildlife when it's used to protect crops.  In 2001, the agency sent a 
copy of the report to industry groups for a 30-day, "error only" review.  
Fifteen months and five closed-door meetings with industry groups later, the 
EPA had toned down language about the dangers of rat poison and rewritten 
whole sections of the report.  Consumer and enviro groups were not consulted 
during the process.  Meanwhile, 15,000 children younger than 6 ingest rat 
poison each year, as do numerous endangered animals.

straight to the source:  The Washington Post, Juliet Eilperin, 15 Apr 2004
http://www.gristmagazine.com/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=2319

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