Know Your Rights
Beware of Rat Poison
by David S. Casey, Jr. and Martin W. Edelman 
Beware of rat poison.
Yes, it does sound like a pretty obvious warning. But rat poison is as dangerous to you and your family as ever.
Over the past six years, the pesticide industry has waged an all-fronts assault on regulatory initiatives meant to protect children and animals from becoming the victims of rat poison. Several health and environmental groups charge that the industry's level of access to the rule-making process has resulted in several regulatory initiatives being significantly weakened or scrapped altogether.
The battle over pesticide rules began in 1998 when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published proposed regulations allowing the use of rat poisons, provided the rat poison manufacturers undertook certain precautions.
The document specifically said that rat poisons "pose a significant risk of accidental exposure to humans, particularly children, household pets, and non-target animals," but should remain on the market because they helped contain the various diseases that rats and mice carry.
The EPA specifically required two new safeguards: adding a substance to make the poison taste more bitter and a dye that would make it more obvious if a child had ingested poison.
But in 2001, the Bush Administration's EPA rescinded both the bittering agent and dye requirements. The reversal was based on the determination that the new rules were impractical because the poison would be less attractive to rats and could damage household property.
However, according to some pesticide manufacturers, the bittering agent works just fine.
Internal EPA documents indicate that these changes in policy were made at the behest of pesticide manufacturers who wanted to downplay the dangers associated with rat poison. And while the EPA refused to meet with consumer and environmental groups about the changes in these rules, the agency did hold five closed-door meetings with a number of pesticide makers.
But the problem is not going away. Last year, poison control centers reported more than 15,000 incidents of children younger than the age of 6 ingesting rat poison. This is an increase of over 40% from a decade ago.
Michael Shannon, a toxicologist at the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Regional Center for Poison Control and Prevention says of the weaken rules, "It's just a disaster waiting to happen. There's nothing to keep a child from getting their hands on it [rat poison]."
In the meantime, the American Association of Poison Control Centers Web site, http://www.aapcc.org/, provides information on how to locate your local poison control center. And should you find yourself needing immediate help, you can also call 1-800-222-1222, 24-hours a day, seven days a week, to be instantly connected to your local center, which will be able to provide assistance.
David S. Casey, Jr., president of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, is a partner in the San Diego, CA law firm of Casey, Gerry, Reed, and Schenk.
Martin W. Edelman, president of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, is a partner in the New York law firm of Edelman & Edelman, P.C.
