A label update gives pest managers greater freedom to use two of Bell Labs’ popular rodenticide products.
All professional pest managers are familiar with the refrain ‘the label is the law’. It’s pretty straightforward: use the product as directed by the label, and you’ll conduct your treatment safely, successfully and legally.
Product labels contain information on the application rate, precautions, storage and disposal instructions and safety directions, which includes mandated personal protective equipment (PPE). It’s the responsibility of the individual operator to be familiar with the label requirements of the product they’re using, and to ensure they comply with them.
However, label directions can sometimes be perceived by the user as too complicated or confusing. This leads to the very real possibility that the user could unintentionally use the product in a manner considered ‘off label’. Doing so may invalidate insurance and could open up a host of other legal issues.
One category of product that is frequently used off label, unintentionally or otherwise, is rodenticides. Bell Labs has recently taken steps to address this issue, with updates to the labels of its Contrac Blox and Ditrac Blox products.
“At Bell, we have the utmost faith in our products, but we realised that the product labels on Contrac and Ditrac were perhaps a bit too restrictive and placed unrealistic requirements on the end user,” explained Samuel Wood, technical services representative for Bell Labs, Australia and New Zealand.
The requirement for bait stations to be inspected daily has been removed and replaced with ‘inspect bait stations on a regular basis’, providing pest managers with the flexibility to set service frequencies determined by the pest risk assessment, rather than the product label.
Changes to the application rate of Ditrac have also been made. Mr Wood explained that the highly restrictive rate of 1-3 blocks per bait station had been removed and replaced with ‘one or more blocks per bait station’, allowing for a more adaptive approach to bait placement, with the freedom to increase quantities as dictated by rodent activity levels.
“Bell Labs is incredibly proud of its position as a market leader in the rodent control category, and now we can confidently say that as well as having great products we also provide user-friendly product labels,” he said.
The new labels are registered with the APVMA, and the changes will start to roll through onto the product on the distributors’ shelves over the next few months. A copy of the current specimen label can be requested from distributors or a Bell Labs representative.
