Poisonous pest control worries residents

Although toxicology tests were not conducted to confirm how Joelle Lefebvre’s 11-year-old cocker spaniel died last month in Fallingbrook, the incident was reported to Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA), the federal department responsible for regulating pesticides.

“The actual cause of death is not known and they don’t know how exposure occurred,” says Alistair Sinclair, a senior media relations advisor at Health Canada. “They are assuming it was an anticoagulant rodenticide based on the symptoms the dog experienced.”

Sinclair says Health Canada has recently implemented a number of measures to protect human health as it relates to rodenticide and pesticide use. Within the PMRA measures, manufacturers are responsible to adequately prepare and package the pest control agents.

Safe use of the poisons, however, relies heavily on consumer savvy.

“Acceptable uses of pesticides, including rodenticides, are specified on the label,” Sinclair says. “Adherence to label instructions is required under the terms of the Pest Control Products Act.

“We recommend that Canadians who are experiencing a pest problem should take measures to become better informed regarding various control options, including preventative measures,” he adds.

Local resident Louise Tailleur considers herself an educated consumer, but she says relying on individuals to safely administer poisons isn’t good enough. She questions why rodenticides are available on the bottom shelf at Home Depot and in the aisle next to the food at Wal-Mart with what she considers to be inadequate instructions.

“I had bought poison two weeks before I read the article about the dog that died,” Tailleur says. “I was going to put the blocks of poison out, just like that, under the shed. What if a rabbit took the block in his mouth? What if a dog came and ate the block, or ate the rabbit?”

Under the PMRA regulations, rodenticides are required to be put in locked box stations so children and other animals are not put at risk. Execution of the regulations, however, presumes consumers will be responsible enough read labels and purchase both the rodenticide and the lock stations.

“If we’re going to sell this stuff, we should make sure it’s sold to us properly with proper instructions,” Tailleur says. “And make sure everything is sold together, not separately.”

Nadine Belisle, the office manager at Nature Bird & Wildlife Pest Control, says this is why pest control is best left to the professionals.

“It’s not the pesticides that are dangerous, it’s the applicator,” Belisle says. “Often people don’t read the labels, but the technicians here have to go to college, they are licensed.”

Michelle Mayer, who is on the board of directors for the Navan Animal Rescue Corporation, says the best way to avoid accidentally injuring neighbourhood animals and pets is to avoid using poison altogether.

“I would never use poison, even for rats,” says Mayer, who lives on a farm east of Orléans. “What if the neighbour’s cat or dog gets at it? It’s putting all the animals in the barn at risk.”

And although animal poisoning is not typically an issue dealt with by the Ottawa Humane Society, the organization also cautions people in their approach to removing pests.

“We encourage people to keep toxic substances away from their pets,” says Tara Jackson, a communications officer. “We don’t advocate poisons as a way to deal with wildlife that you may have in your home.”

But Belisle, whose business relies on effective pest removal, says in houses and outside in urban neighbourhoods sometimes poison is the only guaranteed method of removal.

“When we do a treatment inside for rats and we cannot use poison, we use a snap trap,” Belisle says. “But for mice, it’s not 100 per cent efficient. If there’s 10 in a colony and only five get trapped, the others will see it and won’t go to it.”

Information on how to control rats and mice around your home can be found on the PMRA’s website: www.pmra-arla.gc.ca To report on a pesticide incident or to find out about incidents that have been reported to the PMRA, go to www.pmra-arla.gc.ca