About Us

Demands of consumers for high quality and safe food mean that there is a need for ever higher standards in all stages of food production. This has led to strict quality assurance requirements from buyers, such as supermarkets and food processing companies.

Among these requirements is the need for highly effective control of rodents, which otherwise contaminate and destroy food at every stage from the farm to the supermarket shelf.

At the same time, government agencies responsible for the regulation of rodenticides have raised concern that many species of wildlife, such as barn owls, kestrels and red kites, are being accidentally exposed to these products. These agencies have called for better stewardship of rodenticides to prevent wildlife exposure.

The Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use (CRRU) is a response to that call. Under the banner “Think Wildlife”, CRRU promotes best practice and responsible rodent control, thereby protecting wildlife from rodenticide exposure.

The CRRU Code promotes responsible use of rodenticides and can be found here.

Urging all those that use Rodenticides to follow the CRRU Code, CRRU Ireland Chairman, Dr Mark R Lynch says:

Rodenticides are vital to prevent disease in humans and animals, to protect property and equipment from damage and to ensure the highest possible standards of food hygiene
But we are increasingly aware that the way we use rodenticides causes contamination of some of our most important wildlife species.

All who use rodenticides must apply best practice to minimise exposure of wildlife. If this is not done we must expect ever greater restrictions on who can use rodenticides and where they can be applied, possibly to the eventual detriment of effective rodent control.”

Acknowledgements
CRRU Ireland receives expert guidance from the following agencies and would like to express its grateful appreciation to:

  • Dr Mark Lynch, Chairman of CRRU Ireland
  • University of Reading (Dr Alan Buckle, Vice-Chairman of CRRU Ireland)
  • Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Dr Finbar Brown)
  • The National Parks and Wildlife Service (Dr Barry O’Donoghue)
  • BirdWatch Ireland (Mr John Lusby)

The following companies are supporting the Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use and are full members of CRRU Ireland:



  • BASF Ireland Limited
  • Bayer CropScience Ltd.
  • Bell Laboratories Inc
  • LiphaTech S.A.S.
  • LODI UK Ltd.
  • PelGar International
  • Rentokil Initial plc
  • Syngenta Crop Protection AG