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Compliance: 
1080 substitution incident

On 8 March 2002, MAF was notified that 1080 may have been used by mistake (instead of cholecalciferol) in a pest control operation in Southland. A dog had died; postmortem examination revealed symptoms of 1080 poisoning.

Preliminary investigation carried out by staff of Southland Regional Council indicated that a pest control company contracted by the Regional Council to conduct pest control activities had subcontracted the actual bait laying operations to local licensed vertebrate pest control (VPC) operators.

The incident was investigated further by the ACVM Group to determine whether breaches of the Pesticides (Vertebrate Pest Control) Regulations had occurred, and what needed to be done to prevent a similar event happening again.

It was determined that the pest control company was operating in a professional manner with area supervisors managing subcontracts with local pest control operators in various parts of the country. The ACVM Group recommendation was that the company should develop guidelines for subcontractors relating to the receipt, storage, transportation, use and documentation of toxins. It should also provide area supervisors with additional training in risk assessment and inspection techniques.

The investigators determined that the mistake had occurred where two vertebrate pest control operators were using the same depot owned by one of them. A container of baits thought to be cholecalciferol pellets had contained 1080 pellets, and had been collected from the depot by one of the operators for transfer to another site. Significant features of the incident included:

• insufficient or mislabelling of the container,
• lack of procedures or systems for isolating 1080 in the depot,
• insufficient records to enable reconciliation of toxin stocks in the depot, and
• lack of regular communication between the two operators.

The VPC licences of both operators were suspended.

The VPC operators have since responded to the investigation with detailed remedial actions that are being implemented.

Following a review by the ACVM Decision Making Committee, the VPC licences have been reinstated, but the operators will be audited to ensure ongoing compliance.

Residue standards review

The biennial review of the ACVM residue standards has commenced. Major content changes are not contemplated at this time although some changes are proposed.

The Standard and Guidelines for Plant Compounds will be merged into one document.

The Standard for Veterinary Medicines will be split into two separate (but related) standards. One of these will address requirements for new active ingredients and uses where the MRL is not gazetted in the NZ Mandatory Food Standard and where both an MRL and a WHP are sought. The second standard will address requirements for registration where the MRL is gazetted and only a WHP is required. Guidelines will be incorporated into each of these standards.

Some other potential changes are signalled for veterinary medicine registration requirements: the removal of the 20 ml upper limit restriction on parenteral products and the expanded options of stratification of WHP by dose.

Consultation on the proposed changes to the ACVM residue standards with stakeholders and interested parties will be subsequent to the issuing of the first draft of the new standards.

If you have any queries, contact:
Mike Clear, National Manager,
Veterinary Residues
(04 460 8734,clearm@maf.govt.nz)
or
Dave Lunn, National Manager,
Plant Residues
(04 460 8735, lunnd@maf.govt.nz ).