Democrat Sens. Lisa Cutter and Cathy Kipp, and Rep. Elizabeth Velasco have introduced a rat’s nest of a bill in SB26-062 Rodenticide Use Restrictions. The three mouseketeers are seeking to prohibit a person from selling, distributing, applying, or using certain types of rodenticide and rodent glue traps in the state except as authorized for restricted and limited use in a public health emergency and in accordance with certain use requirements and time periods.

It is unacceptable to prioritize rats and rodents over people. It is unacceptable to take away reasonable tools to protect human health and the safety of food and to safeguard against crippling economic losses to the agriculture industry and essentially every other industry in the state.

In 2020, a homeless camp in Lincoln Park between the State Capitol and Civic Center Park was cleared out prompted by concerns for public health. Once cleared, the damage was more significant than mere piles of human waste, used needles and syringes, extensive damage to landscaping, irrigation and electrical systems, and vandalism to monuments. A rat infestation was also discovered that required professional removal by obviously brave and heroic pest management experts in hazmat suits to avoid diseases such as leptospirosis, which often results in renal failure; Lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCMV), a viral infectious disease, is transmitted through the saliva and urine of rats; and bubonic plague, caused by the bites of fleas that infest the rats. The rat infestation was punctuated by the physical presence of rats in broad daylight, droppings, and the pungent smell of nesting rats that was detectable within a homeless encampment.

The Center for Biological Diversity didn’t waste the opportunity to weigh in on behalf of the bill and against rat poisons that contain anticoagulants. They cited a Colorado Parks and Wildlife study on coyotes that tested positive for brodifacoum during necropsy.

Though there is a CPW staff member listed, Dr. Liz Fox is a now-former CPW wildlife pathologist who is now at the Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. This 2015 study was through the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), not CPW.

In an email, the Center for Biological Diversity claimed: “Wildlife who eat poisoned rats, mice, gophers, moles and other rodents can suffer internal bleeding, organ failure, and other painful afflictions that usually lead to death. And exposure happens far too often: A Colorado Parks and Wildlife study found 100% of the Denver-area coyotes it sampled were exposed to deadly rodenticides.” Five of five is mathematically 100%, though sample size isn’t just lagniappe.

The abstract outlines the study, explaining the livers of five coyotes in the Denver metropolitan area were tested for anticoagulant rodenticides. “All five livers were positive for brodifacoum, with values ranging from 95 ppb to 320 ppb, and one liver was positive for bromadiolone, with a value of 885 ppb. Both of these rodenticides are second-generation anticoagulants, which are more potent and more likely to cause secondary poisoning than first-generation anticoagulants due to their accumulation and persistence in the liver. We concluded exposure to these rodenticides may have caused the death of at least two of the five coyotes, and urban coyotes in our study area are commonly exposed to rodenticides.”

No doubt, it’s not easy to be a coyote (pronouncing the last syllable so it rhymes with oat is an instant way to increase your gravel road credibility) in metropolitan Denver. It is certainly far more likely that an urban coyote would more often be exposed to rodenticide because their diets undoubtedly center around small critters who frequent the dumpsters behind restaurants and the occasional Civic Center Park rat. I can’t imagine coyotes in rural areas would test for anticoagulants at nearly the same rate as those who dine in Denver.

This bill is a bad one. It strips tools away from the professionals tasked with protecting public health, food systems, homes, businesses and agriculture. Rodents contaminate stored crops and animal feed and destroy infrastructure, buildings and electrical wiring in buildings and vehicles. As it should be, health requirements demand the control of rodents within food service, be it at a restaurant or an assisted-living facility or a school. Colorado’s Warranty of Habitability requires landlords to deal with rodent infestations quickly and effectively, something that would be nearly impossible without the professionals and their tools. This bill, should it not be killed by reasonable lawmakers, would disproportionately and negatively affect low income and rural areas by prohibiting necessary, regulated, and responsibly used tools without effective substitutes. This bill is widely opposed by the trade organizations who depend upon effective tools to safeguard their lives and livelihoods. This bleeding-heart bill comes on the heels of the trio’s equally ill-informed and misguided treated seed bill. If their grand plan is to allow hordes of mice to destroy thousands of tons of treated seed, they appear to be onto something.

Rachel Gabel writes about agriculture and rural issues. She is assistant editor of The Fence Post Magazine, the region’s preeminent agriculture publication.