Some of the widely used rodenticides include organohalogens based pesticides such as Lindane, Bromethalin etc. and also heavy metal based compounds such as Copper Naphthenate and Lead Naphthenate, Zinc Phosphide etc. The use of such rodenticides is a serious environmental concern as they leach out from the polymer to enter the atmosphere and are later deposited by rain. They get carried into surface water as well as ground water. Being fat-soluble such chemicals tend to accumulate through food chains, as is common with organochlorine rodenticides. This can most obviously affect the aquatic biota and also contaminate the surface water reserves, ultimately affecting even human life which is dependent on these for food and sustenance.

Rodrepel is completely inert within the polymer matrix apart from executing its primary function of keeping the animal away. Thus it doesn’t leach out to pollute and as a result wouldn’t contaminate the groundwater, surface water reserves and soil.

The harmful rodenticide additives volatilize at polymer processing temperatures and release extremely toxic fumes. These toxic fumes are many times more lethal than the original. Not only does this lead to an extensive loss of chemical during processing; but also poses fatal hazards to workers handling such products at the shop floor. A long term or chronic exposure would mean adverse effects on kidney, blood pressure and central venous system of humans. Carcinogenic and mutagenic disorders have also been reported. Moreover use of these rodenticides in agriculture has led to non-target species which are otherwise quite beneficial being affected.

Rodrepel has a low vapor pressure which means that it doesn’t volatilize easily thus not resulting in vapors mixing with the atmosphere. It is thermally stable at temperatures as high as 1400oC. The graph below shows the LC50 inhalation of various rodenticides available in the market. LC50 value is the toxicity of the surrounding medium that will kill half of the sample population of a specific test-animal in a specified period through respiration. They have very low LC50 value making them more toxic. These toxic fumes are many times more lethal than the original.