Banned rat and mouse poison easily available online in Netherlands
Private individuals can easily buy mouse and rat poison online and have it delivered to their homes in the Netherlands, even though they aren't allowed to use these poisons, BNR reported after buying such poisons from various online stores, both Dutch and European. These stores are required to at least check whether they are selling to a certified pest controller.
BNR easily bought three types of strictly regulated rodenticides from bol.com via an external Belgian seller named Hobbyist, at the Dutch office supplies store Office-Deals, and at the Belgian company Nachtergaele Dier & Tuin. None of these companies requested proof of certification. The broadcaster also found regulated rodenticides at various other Dutch and European stores, none of which indicated the need to prove certification.
Private individuals in the Netherlands have been banned from using or stocking eight types of rodenticides since 2023. Only certified companies and professionals are permitted to use the substance, and only as a “last resort.”
Of the eight mouse and rat poisons in question, most are anticoagulants - blood thinners that cause internal bleeding, Nico van den Brink, a professor of environmental toxicology at Wageningen University, told BNR. Apart from being “a rather unethical way of killing,” these poisons also pose environmental risks. Animals that aren’t mice or rats can also eat them and die from them, Van den Brink explained. And the poisons can build up in mice and rats. If an owl or a cat catches the rodent, “they can die from it as well.”
According to the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) and the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA), the sale of rodenticides is “lucrative” because there is “relatively high demand” for them. The regulators couldn’t tell BNR how big this market is, as it involves “illegal flows.”
Private individuals caught using banned poison can face a fine of €250. For sellers, the fine can amount to €2,500.
