Demand That the EPA Ban Notorious Bird Poison Avitrol
Avitrol is a bird poison that targets and impairs victims’ nervous systems, causing disorientation, convulsions, and a slow, painful death.
Avitrol is regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is currently reviewing the poison’s registration under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act as part of a process that occurs only every 15 years or so. The EPA is accepting public comment for its proposed interim decision (PID) regarding Avitrol until May 17. This PID proposes changes to Avitrol’s labeling that are intended to reduce the exposure of nontarget animals to the poison as well as prevent contamination of groundwater. While these changes might help some animal species, they utterly fail to address the abject suffering that this neurotoxin causes. Your voice is needed to tell the EPA that label changes aren’t enough—it needs to refuse to renew Avitrol’s registration so that this horrific product is taken off the market!
Please follow these instructions carefully to submit a public comment:
- Visit the comment page and be sure to begin your comment with this text: “This comment pertains to 4-aminopyridine (4-AP), Case 0015, in Docket EPA-HQ-OPP-2016-0030, also known as Avitrol.”
- Be sure to personalize the rest of your comment. The reviewers give less consideration to comments that appear to be copied and pasted from another source. You can draw inspiration from our talking points below, but be sure to use your own words and feel free to do some additional research into the issue.
- Click “Submit Comment” to submit your comment.
Here are some talking points to consider for your personalized public comment:
- No species, regardless of circumstance, should be subjected to cruel neurotoxins such as Avitrol, especially when humane alternatives exist. The EPA should refuse to renew its registration.
- Pest-control companies often tell potential customers that Avitrol is a humane flock-dispersing agent that “scares” birds away from areas where they’re not wanted. But it is acutely toxic and causes birds and other animals to suffer immensely.
- Poisons are indiscriminate. “Nontarget” species such as protected songbirds often perish from ingesting Avitrol, and predators such as raptors, foxes, hawks, cats, and dogs die from secondary poisoning after feeding on the dead or dying birds. While changes to the poison’s labeling that are intended to reduce direct exposure of nontarget species might help a few individuals of certain species, the danger of secondary poisoning remains.
- According to the EPA’s own information, an astounding 84% of reported Avitrol “misuse incidents” were determined to be intentional. It’s unclear how changing the label will prevent further intentional misuse.
- Poisoning birds does not resolve any perceived problems that they cause. As long as areas remain attractive or accessible to birds, more of them will simply move in from surrounding areas to fill the newly vacant niches. However, Avitrol Corporation, nuisance wildlife–control operators, and pest-control companies refuse to reveal this fact to potential customers—because the only thing that the use of this poison guarantees is repeat business.
Once you’ve submitted your comment, please share this alert with all of your contacts. Thank you for taking action to protect birds and other animals imperiled by Avitrol!
