As if we needed more evidence that the federal government nanny state is completely out of control, the EPA is poised to ban most rat poison.
If upheld, the EPA action would pull from the shelves some commonly sold products for controlling rodents. The EPA said the move would prevent thousands of children from being exposed to the products each year.
Consumers would still be able to buy some chemicals designed to kill rodents, but Ed Copenhaver, owner of Frager’s Hardware on Pennsylvania Avenue here, said that a pellet rat poison called d-Con, made by British firm Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC is a best-seller.
“That’s probably 90 percent of what we sell,” Mr. Copenhaver said. “To take the pellets off the market, to me it’s going to be a killer.”
The d-Con sold at Frager’s contains brodifacoum, one of four chemicals that the EPA said it would ban for “residential consumers.” Products containing those chemicals could still be sold to farmers and professional exterminators.
For other rat and mouse poisons not subject to the ban, the EPA is requiring that they be sold with a safety feature called a “bait station,” which encloses the poison in plastic to prevent children and pets from being exposed.
This is not only an outrage, it is a serious personal inconvenience. I have been using D-Con for decades, as it is the only type of rat poison that works. It also helps mummify the carcasses. This is the sort of thing that is none of the government’s business, much less that of another unconstitutional agency that writes its own laws.
Of course, those in the extermination business will probably welcome this news, as it means more money for companies in bed with the government.
Bastards.
Not long ago, I ridiculed the banning of rat poison in the EU. I guess I shouldn’t have laughed.
I also see that they’re banning snap traps in the District of Columbia.
The rat lobby must be more powerful than I thought.
MORE: I was just reminded of the plague by a friend who said “If you can’t kill the vermin in your own home, that’s sick.” And he asked, “what happens when a bear or a cougar is stalking your baby?”
They — and I do mean they — are a plague upon us.
Comments
5 responses to “The dirty rats reign”
The area where I live has one deer per 10 acres. I thought I’d get a low power slingshot to annoy them when they eat my wife’s hosta, rhodies and northern laurel. Can’t. Illegal in my state. The Bambi lovers win, until there is a harsh winter and half the herd starves.
For your problem, I endorse the idea of putting a lot of bait stations in areas attractive to Rattus norwegicus washingtonius. Fancy restaurants, favored junket locations, lobbying cocktail party venues and so forth. Big snap traps too, baited with worthless paper, like the one dollar bills signed by Tim the tax cheat.
I know you are a dog lover. But. Adopt a cat (don’t have to bring it inside). A good big cat. We’ve got a lot of wild cats in my neighborhood. No sign of rats, or even field mice.
Personally, I’d like to ban the EPA. But until we can do that…workarounds. Go buy lots of d-Con and store it somewhere before it’s illegal. And encourage any feral cats in your neighborhood…
Actually, a dog may be a better animal for ratting than cats. Cats are fine for mice, but rats are big enough that could do some damage to felines. A reasonably-sized dog can take on any rodent without fear, and were used in that role in previous eras.
In the discussion about “they”, “they” seem to have a fascination with a return to a pre-technical way of life, at least insofar as it comes to the “unwashed masses”. You must change you habits and make sacrifices lest the world’s climate goes out of whack somehow; get rid of your TV, home entertainment equipment, appliances, whatever. Power that you don’t roll your own is bad, and even off-grid generation is suspicious. Your car is a scourge to the environment, must limit your freedom of mobility, old bean…
We are on the cusp of some truly momentous breakthroughs in technology and applied science, and yet we are being told to live like 10th Century serfs.
“Better to be judged by 12 honest men than buried by six grim ones.”
In other words, one can’t be constrained by the legislation in personal survival matters. The jury system is a last quality control on stupid laws and thoughtless law enforcement.
Whitehall, it used to be. Nowadays, judges and prosecutors get snippy about jurors who don’t render the verdicts they’re told to.