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posted by on Sunday April 16 2017, @05:46PM   Printer-friendly
from the now-with-nerve-gas! dept.

The USDA will stop using sodium cyanide "bombs" in Idaho (at least temporarily) following an incident that put a 14-year-old in the hospital and killed his dog:

About a month after an anti-predator device spit sodium cyanide in the face of an unsuspecting boy and killed his dog, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced it is ending its use of the M-44 mechanisms in Idaho indefinitely.

"We take seriously the incident in Idaho," Jason Suckow, western regional director of the USDA's Wildlife Services agency, told conservation groups in a letter Monday. "We immediately responded by removing all M-44s from the area, initiating an inquiry into the incident, and launching a review of current [Wildlife Services] operating procedures."

Suckow noted the agency has "removed all M-44s currently deployed on all land ownerships in Idaho" and has refrained from planting new ones.


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  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday April 17 2017, @06:14AM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday April 17 2017, @06:14AM (#495138) Journal

    Let me interject here, from memory alone, first:

    Around the time of the Civil War, food in general, and meat in particular, was sold to the military that was shamefully criminal. The troops were given slop that was unfit for hogs, or dogs. The state of Pennsylvania took an interest in the frauds committed against Pennsylvania troops, and set up an agency to inspect the food service facilities, and the food accepted by Pennsylvania units. Over time, that agency earned so much prestige, that food sellers who didn't even do business in Pennsylvania sought that agency's stamp of approval. There was a void for food safety standards, and the industry went to some effort to earn Pennsylvania's official stamp. I think that agency had a name something like Penn Dep't of agriculture.

    Alright, memory is only so good. Let me go looking for something to back that up.

    PDF with relevance - chrome-extension://oemmndcbldboiebfnladdacbdfmadadm/http://www.dtic.mil/get-tr-doc/pdf?AD=ADA235155 Wall of text warning for it though.

    Another PDF with some relevance, and another WOT - https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/8965597/MooreM.pdf?sequence=1 [harvard.edu]

    Remotely related - http://www.allgov.com/departments/department-of-agriculture?detailsDepartmentID=568# [allgov.com] Here you can learn the origins of the USDA in 1862, though it offers little to support my claim above.

    It seems I'm just not bright enough to enter a proper search term for the data I'm looking for. :^(

    Further - I just walked through my kitchen, looking at food packages with the Pa Dept of Ag markings. They aren't to be found. Apparently, the practice of getting, and advertising, the Penna Dept of Ag approval has been dropped. Maybe I need to search for historical trivia, but I'm giving up.

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