Just-enacted bill also establishes pilot program for integrated pest management
STATE HOUSE – Legislation sponsored by Senate Health and Human Services Committee Chairwoman Melissa Murray and Rep. Rebecca Kislak has been signed into law, phasing out dangerous rat poisons that harm wildlife and creating a pilot program to help communities with safer alternatives for rodent control.
The legislation (2026-S 2795, 2026-H 7222), which was signed by governor Thursday following its passage by lawmakers June 8, will prohibit the sale of first-generation anticoagulant rodenticides to consumers in Rhode Island beginning March 1, 2027, and prohibit the sale of second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides beginning Jan. 1, 2028. Licensed commercial applicators would be exempt.
Anticoagulant rodenticides kill by preventing blood clotting, and although users are targeting rats, there is no way to prevent consumption by nontarget species. Raptors, who are a natural predator of rodents, are particularly imperiled by their use.
“These products are meant to kill rats, but they do great harm to raptors and other wildlife, and they are a risk to children and pets. Their poison accumulates in the bodies of species who eat rodents who have consumed the products, and ironically winds up killing raptors, which are an important part of the food chain that controls the rat population,” said Chairwoman Murray (D-Dist. 24, Woonsocket, North Smithfield.)
First generation anticoagulants require multiple feedings to kill, which means a rodent that has eaten them will continue to live with them in its system, transferring some of that poison to a predator if it is eaten before consuming enough poison to be lethal. Since raptors can eat thousands of rodents a year, they can be sickened and killed by the cumulative effects. Second-generation anticoagulants are more potent, and can be lethal in a single dose. They also pose a danger if predators or scavengers eat an affected rodent or if another animal eats the product.
“Unfortunately, not only do rat poisons kill the natural predators of rats, many rats have developed resistance to them, so they are ineffective on top of being dangerous and counterproductive. Accordingly, many communities are losing the battle against them. We need to change our tactics,” said Representative Kislak (D-Dist. 4, Providence). “This bill establishes a new approach through a pilot program of modern integrated management that addresses the problem in a variety of ways, including stepping up efforts to keep trash and other food sources properly contained, encouraging rats’ natural predators and using newer products that prevent rats from reproducing. We’ll use what we learn from the pilot program to guide our approach statewide in the future.”
The pest management pilot program established in the bill is voluntary, and participating municipalities would implement and track the effectiveness of integrated pest management. Integrated pest management is a science-based approach to managing rodents using a variety of methods to prevent and treat rodent concerns including addressing sanitation and landscaping, promotion of natural predators, manufactured alternatives to pesticides and other methods of prevention, reduction and mitigation. Similar programs have begun in cities around the country, including New York, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Somerville, Mass.
Municipalities that choose to participate in the pilot program would designate rodent mitigation areas in which to deploy integrated pest management, and study its results after at least six months. The pilot program is to begin by July 1, 2027, and sunset on Oct. 1, 2028, unless extended by the General Assembly.
The bill sets up a designated fund for the pilot program and directs the Department of Environmental Management to seek grants and philanthropic resources to help support the program.
For more information, contact:
Meredyth R. Whitty, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 222-1923
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