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Lowell Board of Health backs ordinance to remove rodenticide from city contracts
Summary
The board voted to support a city council effort to remove rodenticide from city contracts, to launch an education campaign for local businesses and to recommend residents avoid rodenticide; the law department will draft ordinance language and advise on limits regarding private businesses.
The Lowell Board of Health voted to support a city council initiative to remove rodenticide from city contracts, to undertake an education campaign aimed at local businesses, and to recommend that residents and private businesses avoid using rodenticide.
The board’s action came after a presentation on current pest-control practices in the city. Matthew Sheehan, who submitted the development services report, told the board the city currently has about 75 deployed “smart boxes” that do not use rodenticide and instead use a gel-based attractant and an electronic kill mechanism. Sheehan also said some contracted devices used in residential areas contain rodenticide blocks and that school pest-control contracts still include bait with cholecalciferol as the active ingredient.
Madam Chair (Board of Health chair) brought the city council’s request to the board so the solicitor could draft ordinance language if the board recommended it. Board members discussed three points: removing rodenticide from any vendors the city contracts with, running an educational campaign for local businesses, and recommending that private businesses and residents not use rodenticide.
A board member made a motion to support those three items and a second was recorded; the chair called for a voice vote and the board approved the motion with a voice vote of recorded “ayes.” The law department will draft an ordinance and advise whether any requirement could be applied to private businesses.
Board members cited wildlife and pet-safety concerns during discussion. A board member said that hawks that used to hunt rodents in some neighborhoods are no longer present and that pets could be at risk if they came into contact with rodenticide. Sheehan reported Banner Pest, the vendor operating in schools, is switching to a cadet all-weather box that contains cholecalciferol and that Modern Pest (the residential contractor) will switch from bait stations to snap traps if the ordinance passes.
The board did not adopt a local law at the meeting; the motion directs staff and the law department to prepare ordinance language and an education plan for presentation to the city council.
