August 13, 2020
Dear California Senate Appropriations Committee:
The Topanga Creek Watershed Committee is writing in support of AB 1788, introduced by Assemblymember Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) and co-authored by Senator Henry Stern. In fact, we wish the bill went even further and banned the use of first-generation rodenticides as well in order to more fully protect humans, domestic pets and wildlife from harm.
Why AB 1788 is needed
We support the language in this bill that would completely ban second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) in California. These products are having widespread impacts on our state’s wildlife as well as creating unnecessary risk to the health and safety of our state’s residents and household pets.
Since the California Department of Pesticide Regulation pulled second generation anticoagulants from consumer shelves in July 2014, there has been no decrease in the rate of wildlife poisoning from these products. The continued use of rodenticides by licensed pest control applicators perpetuates the circle of poison, exposing non-target wildlife (and even pets) who consume the rodents to the lethal effects of these bio-accumulative toxicants. Social media is rife with examples of neighbors who have lost pets to rodenticides.
