Wildlife conservation advocates say towns, cities should regulate pesticides, not the feds and state

Wildlife conservation advocates are urging state lawmakers to give cities and towns the power to regulate pesticides as a means of pest control.

The Environmental Protection Agency and state Department of Agricultural Resources review registered pest control products before they enter the market, but advocates say that is hurting and killing countless animals across Massachusetts.

Arlington residents and representatives made their pitch during a hearing Wednesday for the state Legislature to approve a home rule petition that would allow the suburban town to regulate rodenticide use on private property.

Arlington made headlines earlier this year when MK, a bald eagle, died after consuming rat poisoning at a town cemetery. A mother gray horned owl and two of her fledgling owlets suffered the same fate in an Arlington park last spring before another owl died in December.

“We are not saying we want rats in our community, but what we are saying is we don’t need to kill a bald eagle or our owl population to deal with the rat infestation,” state Rep. Sean Garballey, D-23rd Middlesex, told the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources.

The committee also heard testimony on a bill that would give all 351 cities and towns in the state the power to establish standards and restrictions relative to the use, application and disposal of pesticides. Local boards of health would get a final say on the rules.

David Flynn, president of the New England Pest Management Association, said it would be unfeasible for the pest management industry to navigate existing state and federal regulations as well as new ones created at the local level.

“The amount of consumer red tape that would be put on small businesses would be astronomical,” he said. “We also have local health agents that do not have the scientific resources available to them to research and enforce pesticides. Pesticide regulations would then be decided by town meetings, which is ‘Who can yell the loudest?’”

Priya Patel treats animals with cases of rat poisoning as medical director at the New England Wildlife Center in Weymouth. She had first-hand contact with MK as she tried to stabilize the bald eagle, but it was “too late” with the poisons leading to uncontrollable bleeding.

About 30 to 40% of the animals New England Wildlife Center treats are released, depending on what the rodenticide is and how quickly the animal is taken in after consumption, Patel said.

“She is not the first bald eagle to die from rodenticide, showing that this definitely needs change so she will definitely be the last,” Patel said of MK.

A pair of Democratic state lawmakers from Attleboro, Sen. Paul Feeney and Rep. Jim Hawkins, are also proposing legislation that would require commercial pest control companies to report electronically where they are applying rodenticides.

The legislation has received the support of more than 30 animal advocacy groups, and it just missed being fully enacted last session after the House and Senate approved it last year.

Cambridge resident Cecily Miller said she’s seen  “an explosion of rodenticides” in her neighborhood and pointed out how the Watertown Department of Public Works is using roadside bait stations with rodenticide during construction projects.

Miller said Watertown officials have told her they understand the risks to wildlife but rodenticide is the cheapest method of rodent control.

“I would say the cheapest method is preserving the animals that prey on rats,” she said. “This is why systemic legislative action is needed.”