Government agrees high level principles for stewardship regime for rodenticides

Pest rodents can threaten public and animal health and the UK infrastructure– controlling problem rodents is socially and economically important and, in some situations, may be required by law.

A wide range of rodent control measures exist, including use of rodenticides (‘poisons’) which are valuable because they are effective and suitable for use in a variety of situations where other techniques would not work.

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Regulatory environmental risk assessments have concluded that the use of First and Second Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides (FGARs and SGARs) outdoors present a higher level of risk to non-target animals (such as predatory birds and mammals) than would normally be considered acceptable. As a result, outdoor use of these rodenticides would normally be banned. However the Government recognises that, despite carrying these risks, outdoor use of FGARs and SGARs is sometimes necessary as part of properly managed rodent control strategies.

In order to be able to authorise these rodenticides for use outdoors, the Government must be assured that the risks arising from such use will be properly managed. One way of providing that assurance is through a rodenticide stewardship regime. In April 2013, a Government Oversight Group, consisting of officials from HSE, HSE NI, DEFRA, Public Health England, Natural England, the Welsh and Scottish Governments and an independent scientific adviser, asked industry to explore ways to improve and spread good practice and to self-police professional use of FGARs and SGARs via an industry-led, voluntary ‘stewardship’ regime. The Government Oversight Group has agreed a set of high-level principles to assist industry in developing stewardship regimes. (See Below - High-level principles for Rodenticide Regime(s) )

The new regime, managed by the Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use, will shortly be launched and will adhere to the high level principles. This will help to provide robust assurance that the continued use of FGARs and SGARs will use a hierarchy of risk controls for rodents, promoting responsible use and good practice by all suppliers and professional users.

High-level principles for Rodenticide Regime(s)

Any Rodenticide Stewardship Regime is built on:

1. Using Integrated Pest Management, including use of rodenticides, involving a hierarchy of risk controls for rodents;

2. Using rodenticides responsibly, when demonstrated they are needed, because of their potential threat to human, animal health and the environment;

3. Being applicable to all suppliers, handlers and professional users of rodenticides approved under stewardship to address these risks;

4. Being robust, effective and workable, while remaining as simple as possible;

5. Covering the whole life-cycle of the rodenticide products: manufacture, supply chain, end-use, disposal and environmental fate;

6. Enabling good practice in the control of rodent populations as part of an integrated pest management system, while minimising resistance build-up and secondary poisoning in non-target species;

7. Delivering key benefits such as:

• governance of the supply chain, which gives governance over and provides the driver for later stages;

• a competent workforce capable of delivering stewardship standards and of demonstrating an appropriate understanding and attitude toward case-specific control of rodents and use of rodenticides; and

• monitoring compliance with the regime and its environmental impacts, and if possible of the level of conflict reduction – i.e. an assessment of whether rodenticides and stewardship together are actually tackling the problems.