The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1920-02-09
RAT PoIsoNS DANGEROUS.
Belief That Fires Start from Some of
Them,

Recently j. G. Brown of the state in
surance department received a report
| from a merchant in the county asking
advice relative to whether certain rat
| exterminators contained ingredients
that would cause fire, one having de-
veloped from combustion OF one Of
these il was feared. Mr.. Brown had
several of the rat killers analysed, with
the result that they were found to be
dangerous when stored, and to-day he
mailed to the several merchants of the
state the following letter cautioning
them about these poisons.
To Whom 1t. May ConeernI The at
tention of this department having been
called to The spontaneous combustion
of certain so-called rat killers and
believing that fires have occurred in
this state by reason of the presence OF
rat killers containing PHOSPHORUS. de
sire to call the attention of merchants
who carry any of these in stock. TO re.
ports received by this department after
submitting various rat killers for ex
animation and tests.
A. J. P. No. Smell rat killer.
Rat Bis kit.
Stearns' Electric rat and roach paste.
Common Sense rat eNterminator.
All of these preparations contain ele.
mentary phophorous in varying
amounts. In some instances, a state
ment as to PHOSPHORUS percentage IS
printed on the label OF the container,
Examination of the samples and quail
itative chemical tests, confirm the
presence of PHOSPHORUS, and the fire
hazard of these products is judged to
be relatively small with the exception
of the "A j. p. NoSmell rat killer,
though the others are subject to criti-
cism.
The following is the report in full
received from the laboratory in connec
ton with the "A. J. F. No-Smell rat
killer:
Answering yours of Dee. 10 in re-
gard to the above product, there can be
little doubt but that this materisl is
extremely hazardous and constitutes
very great hazard in storage and use
"Tn support of this we can advise
that upon opening the can when u
reached us il was found that large
amount OF gases had been liberated
from the mixture and these gases were
under considerable pressure from the
nature Of the container. The act of
opening the can produced a violent eX
plosion due to the liberation of these
compressed gases with the result that
large amounts of the compound itself
were blown forcibly in all directions
II Is quite evident that this mixture
contains very high percentage Of
PHOSPHORUS in the elementary state
we presume that you are sufficiently
aware of the extremely hazardous ma
ture Of PHOSPHORUS and that we need
not comment any further on this one
point The compound produces large
quantities OF fumes and evolution of
gases when exposed TO the air and
when once ignited il is practically i'm
possible to eNtinguish the fire by any
ordinary means.
Summarizing. we can state that this
material is not only hazardous from
the standpoint of storage. and use,
but Is also dangerous to persons hand
ling cans of it since it was only by
good fortune that no personal injury
was suffered by Us in opening the sam
pie can which you sent US
| would, therefore, request that all
merchants examine their stock and if
any Of the ingredients named above are
found in their stock, would recon-
mend that they be eliminated by rea
son of the fire hazard.
Rough on Rats.
The report on Rough on Rats shows
that this produce is not a PHOSPHORUS (
preparation. its poisonous properties /
being due to the presence of arsenic /
acid, probably a. sodium and ferrous