SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT How many times have you heard that native wildlife are immune to 1080? That 1080 is safe because it comes from a plant? This is untrue, a marketing tool for the poisons industry. 

1080 IS NOT NATURALLY OCCURRING. Potassium fluoroacetate - a bitter tasting anti-herbivore metabolite - is found naturally occuring in small quantities in some species of the Gastrolobium and other genus of flowering plants growing in Australia (found almost exclusively in south west Western Australia) plus several other genus of plants in South and Central Africa and South America. The sodium salt of fluoroacetate, being sodium monofluoroacetate - Compound 1080 - is a chemically synthetised, cruel and indiscriminate super toxin that was first patented by Monsanto in the 1950s and has been banned in nearly every country in the world, except Australia and New Zealand. The last known holder of the worldwide patent for Compound 1080 and the only manufacturer of the raw ingredient was Tull Chemicals, Oxford, Alabama who have been manufacturing 1080 since purchasing the patent in 1955, supplying Australian and New Zealand markets. The raw ingredient is then used by two competing Australian manufacturers in a variety of pre-prepared baits or as a liquid concentrate in fresh meat and carrot baits. Over its history, 1080 has been proven to be an effective insecticide, rodenticide, predacide and pesticide.

AUSTRALIAN SPECIES ARE NOT IMMUNE. ‘1080 is primarily used to ‘manage’ introduced species. However, this poison is an indiscriminate killer. Poison laid for rabbits is normally in the form of baited carrots and oats, but any other animal occupying a similar niche such as the kangaroo are just as likely to eat the poison. It has been estimated that baits laid for rabbits threaten a further 50-62 species. 1080 not only has devastating consequences for the animals who directly consume it, but .. scavengers and carnivores are killed through secondary poisoning when they feed upon unrecovered carcasses. Indeed 1080 spreads so thoroughly through an ecosystem that insectivorous birds have been killed in baited areas by eating insects who have fed on carcasses and poisoned food.’ World League for the Protection of Animals (WLPA). Australian native species that are highly sensitive to 1080 poison include herbivores - possums, macropods and wombats - (with the exception of some species in the south-west corner of WA), some birds - red-browed firetail, crimson rosella and white-winged chough - , rodents - plains mouse, bush rat, swamp rat and cane field rat - and dasyurids - stripe-faced dunnart, brown antechinus, spotted-tailed quoll and perhaps the eastern quoll.

"Compound 1080 (sodium monofluoroacetate) is an extremely toxic metabolic poison. It is water soluble, colourless, odourless, tasteless, slow acting and there is no antidote. 1080 is used to kill ‘pest’ animals in Australia in a variety of bait types for both herbivores and carnivores, including rabbits, wallabies, dingoes (‘wild dogs’), foxes, cats and pigs. 1080 poison was first introduced into Australia in the 1950s to kill rabbits. Sixty years on, not only is the humaneness and effectiveness of 1080 coming under increasing question but also its devastating impacts on many keystone native species, none more so than dingoes. Internationally acclaimed Australian scientists have demonstrated that extermination of dingoes (Australia’s native top order predator) has dramatically contributed to explosions in large herbivores (kangaroos, rabbits etc) and introduced mesopredators (feral cats and foxes) which has resulted in extinctions of smaller mammals. Calls by these scientists to undertake trials to stop baiting dingoes (conveniently being labelled ‘wild dogs’ ‘ferals’, ‘pests’, ‘introduced’) have not only being ignored but met with hostility by agricultural associations and government funded ‘pest control’ organisations. There is a lot of misleading and dangerous information published about 1080 that is self serving and dangerous ‘marketing spin’ used by poison manufacturers, pest control agencies and agricultural interests in Australia.

1080 IS NOT SAFE. 1080 carries a Category 1 classification with the EPA, indicating the highest degree of acute toxicity. In Australia it is classed as a Schedule 7 Poison, being the most lethal poison category under the Department of Health’s Goods Administration. 1080 is listed as a ‘Chemical of Security Concern’ by The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) as a potential chemical weapon for ‘terrorist related activity.’ Acute sub-lethal exposure to 1080 in humans give rise to severe, irreversible, adverse heart and brain effect, with the most sensitive target organs being the male reproductive system (the testes and epididymides). One teaspoon is enough to kill 100 human adults. The symptoms of poisoning normally appear between 30 minutes and three hours after exposure. Neurological effects include convulsion, respiratory depression, tremulousness, hallucinations and coma. Cardiac effects include hypertension then hypotension, arrhythmias, ventricular fibrillation and cardiac failure.

There is no antidote.
1080 IS NOT HUMANE. ‘1080 poison is a slow killer. When ingested (usually through baited food) the animal suffers a prolonged and horrific death. Herbivores take the longest to die - up to 44hrs, while carnivores can take up to 21hrs before finally succumbing to final effects of the poison. The speed of death is dependent on the rate of the animal’s metabolism. 1080 should be outlawed in Australia, not only for its cruelty but also because we simply do not know what might be the long term effects of continually pouring substantial amounts of this poison into the environment.’ World League for the Protection of Animals (WLPA).
Signs of a dog poisoned by 1080:
• Frenzied behaviour - running / howling
• Vocalisations likened to human screaming
• Hypersensitivity to sound and light
• Failure to respond to owner
• Vomiting
• Urinating / defecating uncontrollably
• Convulsions (seizures / fitting)
• Difficulty breathing / respiratory failure
• Coma and eventual death.

1080 IS NOT READILY BIODEGRADABLE. 1080 is inherently stable and when stored in its raw form or as a liquid concentrate it can remain toxic for extended periods (indefinite) under normal temperature and pressure conditions. 1080 in an aqueous solution will dissolve but does not lose its integrity. It is diluted as the molecules are spread out in water, but the molecules remain extremely toxic as sodium monofluoroacetate (1080) molecules. Only select soil microbes - bacteria and/or fungi - are able to cleave the fluoro-carbon bond in a process called microbial de-fluorination in order to decompose and detoxify the molecule. Most of the microbial work reported on has been done on Australian soils under laboratory conditions. Soil pH, moisture and temperature markedly affecting the rate of 1080 decomposition, with high temperature, low moisture and acidic pH all slowing the process. Given that 1080 can be extremely slow to decompose its continued persistence in the environment and high toxicity means that it poses serious environmental risks.