Click here to send your comments to the EPA about its rodenticide mitigation proposal


The Problem with Rats

There are currently and estimated 1.25 billion rats living in the United States causing almost $20 billion in damage per year. It is only through effective management that our cities, towns and agricultural and industrial areas are not overrun with all types of rodents. Rodents also harm wildlife, spreading disease through fleas and mites, contaminating food and water, and eating the eggs and young offspring of.

Rats are everywhere, even if we don’t see them. The two rat species causing the most damage in the U.S. are the Norway rat and the Roof rat – these species are more destructive than any native rodents. Both arrived in North America on early sailing ships, with Norway rats now living and breeding in all 48 contiguous states and Roof rats living and breeding along the Pacific, East and Gulf Coasts. All rats seek a balanced diet of fresh food and adequate water, so living in food production and storage locations such as farms and granaries; or near city and suburban garbage and pet food are attractive homes.

Rodents are the Problem

  • In 1999, an American Housing Survey found that more than eight million housing units in the U.S. had rat and mouse infestation.
  • According to a recent public health training program sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “In recent years urban communities have experienced a resurgence of the rodent problem. In some communities more than 50 percent of the premises are infested with rats and mice.”
  • Thousands of people every year, predominantly children and the elderly, are bitten by rodents. These bite victims may be further victimized by contracting rodent-borne diseases.
  • A list of diseases spread directly and indirectly to humans from rodents can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/rodents/diseases/index.htm. One particularly deadly disease, Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, was first recognized in 1993 and has since been identified throughout the U.S. Over one-third of the nearly 500 cases identified have resulted in death, even in young, healthy individuals.
  • In addition to rat bites, rodent-borne diseases are spread through “consuming food or water that is contaminated with rodent feces, coming in contact with surface water contaminated with rodent urine, or through breathing in germs that may be present in rodent urine or droppings that have been stirred into the air. . . . Diseases from rodents are also spread indirectly to humans by way of ticks, mites, and fleas that transmit the infection to humans after feeding on infected rodents.”
  • Rodents also cause widespread economic damage to crops amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars in the U.S. alone. Rodents also damage houses and other structures.
  • Invasive rodents have devastated native populations of wildlife, particularly indigenous bird species, on scores of islands throughout the world.

It is essential all rodenticide users let EPA know how important these products are to their livelihood and our nation’s food safety. Click here to submit public comments to EPA’s “Risk Mitigation” docket.