ABSTRACT
Over $1.1 billion of commercial, industrial, and household rodenticidecontaining products were produced and consumed in the United States in 2001, exceeding that of all other countries combined. The American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) reported that of the 90,261 single-substance nonpharmaceutical exposures in 2007, over 12,000 exposure cases were due to rodenticides, most of which were the long-acting anticoagulant “superwarfarins” (1). Although these products are most familiar for their use in the extermination of mice and rats, they are also employed in the elimination of small mammals (squirrels, chipmunks), snakes, and frogs. Table 30.1 outlines some properties of popular rodenticides still commercially available. Except for fluoroacetate, occurring in one of the most poisonous plants on the planet and not available in the United States, the substances are further discussed individually later.a
Acute and chronic toxic profiles of rodenticides differ significantly from each other in severity and mechanism. Exposure from ready accessibility of the compounds accounts for a sufficient number of nonfatal poisonings, averaging about several hundred cases annually. As with herbicides and insecticides, these cases result from inadvertent ingestion of commercial packages for home use, as well as dermal and respiratory exposure as occupational hazards.
