EPA moves to ban D-Con rodent poison

A Santa Ynez Valley woman has played a major role in efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency to ban certain types of rodent poisons.

NewsChannel 3 has learned that Julia De Sieno of Animal Rescue Team, Inc. spent the past year collecting wildlife carcasses suspected of rodent poisoning and shipped them to U.C. Davis for necropsies.

Results from confirmed cases were then sent to a variety of agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency.

The E.P.A. announced Wednesday through the Associated Press it hopes to reduce accidental exposures that occur each year from rodent-control products, putting children, pets and wildlife at risk.

As of late Wednesday morning, de Sieno was preparing to send seven more carcasses up north for testing including a bob cat, an array of raptors and two barn owls.

According to AP, the agency targeted a handful of similar companies two years ago to make safer products; all but Reckitt Benckiser, Inc., manufacturer of D-Con, did so.

The company has 30 days to respond, or the ban will take effect.