Skip to main content

To: Andrew Wheeler, Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Stop the Use of Lethal M-44 "Cyanide Bombs" to Kill Native Wildlife!

Dear Mr. Wheeler and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,

Please cancel the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act registration for sodium cyanide, the active lethal ingredient in M-44 “cyanide bombs” during the pending registration review. M-44s are indiscriminate, inhumane, and unnecessary wildlife killing devices that poison and kill non-target animals, including pet dogs and endangered species. Continued use of M-44s is having devastating impacts on humans, pets, and wildlife. Earlier this year, the EPA issued a proposed interim decision renewing sodium cyanide registration despite more than 99.9 percent of public comments urging the EPA to ban M-44s. Even though the agency had included at least a few –– albeit minimal –– increased use restrictions to protect the public, the agency later withdrew these new protections, maintaining M-44’s destructive use as the status quo. Please address this critical public safety risk by canceling the registration for sodium cyanide and banning the use of M-44s nationwide.

Why is this important?

The Trump administration recently reauthorized the use of deadly sodium cyanide in wildlife-killing devices called M-44s on our public lands. These “cyanide bombs” were approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency despite inhumanely and indiscriminately killing thousands of animals each year by luring them in by smelly bait. Anything or anyone that pulls on the baited M-44 device can be killed or severely injured by the deadly capsule of sodium cyanide inside. In 2017 alone, M-44s temporarily blinded a child and killed three beloved family dogs in two incidents in Idaho and Wyoming, and accidentally killed an endangered wolf in Oregon.

The Western Environmental Law Center is a nonprofit, public-interest environmental law firm and our expert attorneys are using the full power of the law to stop the use of dangerous, lethal sodium cyanide poison devices on public lands nationwide.

Partner

Updates

2019-12-10 21:32:55 -0500

10 signatures reached