Wildlife Damage Management, Internet Center for
Date of this Version
September 1968
Abstract
I thought it was possible that some of you might not be acquainted with some of the frustrations which are involved in jousting with the bureaucracy in Washington. So I thought I would review that situation very briefly for you, particularly in regard to the compound Queletox. We will confess that we had some real qualms about accepting this material for control as a bird toxicant initially. And the reasons we were concerned about this were because the compound was being used in other areas as an agricultural chemical. It was registered for mosquito control, and it was being used in other parts of the world as an agricultural chemical. We felt that with the tremendous number of bird lovers around the country, if the reputation got out that the material would kill birds or could be used to kill birds, even if in a different formulation, and in a very different method of application, then it was still possible that it would cause problems in the area in which we are concerned, primarily agriculture. I think some of the Fish and Wildlife people who are here will realize that it is possible to get into rather difficult problems by this cross-referencing business. So I think that concern about the reputation of the compound was warranted, originally. However, in spite of this, Dr. Philip Spear came up to see us in the spring of 1963, and he did persuade us that this was a real problem and that the National Pest Control Association was interested in getting this material registered for control of birds. And so we, rather naively, took a crack at it.