Judge Raps EPA for Letting Industry Decide Whether to Add Safeguards to Rat Poison

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A federal judge has scolded the Environmental Protection Agency for letting manufacturers decide whether to add safeguards to protect children from the hazards of rat poison. "EPA is not in the business of reaching consensus with the `stakeholders' it regulates," Judge Jed S. Rakoff said in a decision dated Sunday and made public Monday.

NEW YORK — A federal judge has scolded the Environmental Protection Agency for letting manufacturers decide whether to add safeguards to protect children from the hazards of rat poison.


U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff said the EPA let an advisory panel reach a compromise to let manufacturers decide whether to add a bitter taste to rat poison to reduce the amount consumed by children and pets.


"EPA is not in the business of reaching consensus with the `stakeholders' it regulates," Rakoff said in a decision dated Sunday and made public Monday.


He wrote that the agency's job was "independent review, and there is no indication here that EPA fulfilled that role." Rakoff ordered the EPA to change its decision to dovetail with his ruling.


The judge did allow the EPA to lift an earlier requirement that manufacturers include a dye in the poison so the mouths or hands of children would turn a bright color, saying there was no evidence that such a dye exists.


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A message left with the EPA Monday was not immediately returned.


The ruling was praised by the Natural Resources Defense Council, which filed a lawsuit last year along with West Harlem Environmental Action challenging the EPA's decision to revoke safety regulations in 2001 that it had issued in 1998.


"This is a major victory for children's health and for common sense," said Aaron Colangelo, an attorney with the resources council, a nonprofit organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists.


"Parents now will be able to protect their kids and deal with rodent problems in their neighborhoods at the same time," he said. "There's no reason why any of our kids should be accidentally poisoned, because it's relatively easy to protect them."


The group said in a release that tens of thousands of children under age 6 are poisoned each year by rat poison, with several hundred requiring hospitalization.


The damage falls disproportionately on the population of black and Latino children and those living below the poverty level, it added.


The group said millions of pounds of rat poisons are applied nationally each year.


Source: Associated Press