Sodium fluoroacetate review history and regulatory outcomes

Nomination for review

In July 2002 the APVMA began a review of sodium fluoroacetate (1080) because of concerns about poisoning of non-target animals, and concerns about whether product labels contained adequate safety instructions and warnings.

From public submissions to the APVMA in response to the release of the review scope document it was evident that there was strong public concern about the humaneness of sodium fluoroacetate, and that the community considered that this issue should be considered by the review. The preliminary review findings (PRF) report provided an overview of available information of sodium fluoroacetate and animal welfare, but it did not reach any conclusions on this matter as animal welfare is not a specific criterion under the Agvet Codes which can be taken into account in making decisions about the future use of sodium fluoroacetate.

Preliminary Review Findings Report

In May 2005 the APVMA released the Sodium fluoroacetate (1080) Preliminary Review Findings Report. The APVMA’s key finding was that the labels for products containing sodium fluoroacetate did not contain adequate instructions to ensure the safe use of those products.
In the preliminary findings report the APVMA proposed:

• varying product labels to:
  - delete all use of the general terminology ‘vermin’ and ‘vertebrate pest(s)’, and replace these terms with details of specific target species
  - include stronger safety directions to reduce the risk to non-target species
  - include the warning that sodium fluoroacetate is a Restricted ChemicalProduct (RCP)
  - include instructions on bait materials, preparation and dosage
  - include instructions on bait storage and transport, placement and timing, and the recovery of baits and carcasses
  - include instructions on notifying neighbours of baiting and the requirement to place warning signage in the area where baits have been laid.

Final review report – Review findings and regulatory outcomes

In January 2008 the APVMA released the Sodium Fluoroacetate (1080) Final Review Report and Regulatory Decision document.
The review found that poisoning of non-target animals does occur with 1080 baiting. However, it concluded that when appropriate attention is paid to bait density, placement, timing, substrate etc., impacts can be localised or limited to individual animals and thus do not appear to result in significant adverse effects on non-target animals at the population level.

Careful attention to the selection of bait material, the amount of 1080 in each bait, timing and placement of baits combined with preliminary free feeding, can increase the acceptance of poisoned baits by target animals.

The review added several new instructions to the container labels to better protect the environment and non-target aimals. The review also reduced the bait rate to 10/km transect for aerial baiting of wild dogs.

For more information please contact the Chemical Review Program on (02) 6210 4749 or by email to chemrev@apvma.gov.au

Contact the APVMA for printed copies of this report.