1080 (poison)

1080 is the commonly used name for sodium fluoroacetate (also known as sodium monofluoroacetate), a potent metabolic poisonused primarily to control mammalianpests.

Image:Sodium fluoroacetate.png

History

Sodium fluoroacetate was discovered by Germanmilitarychemistsin World War II. The chemical was highly potent — theoretically, one tenth of a gramcould kill a grown man — but it was difficult to deliver, requiring ingestion or injection for optimal effect. As such, it was largely overlooked until it was independently rediscovered by Americanchemists researching pesticides. The name "1080" refers to the catalogue number of the poison, which became its brand name.

Mechanism of action

1080 is believed to disrupt the citric acid cycle(also known as the Krebs cycle). In the body the fluoroacetate is converted to fluorocitrate, a compound which prevents citratefrom being used in the cycle. This results in an accumulation of citrate in the bloodand deprives cells of energy, leading to a slow and painful death as the body "suffocates from within".

Symptoms and treatment

The symptomsof poisoning normally appear between 30 minutes and four hours after exposure. They include vomiting, involuntary hyper-extension of the limbs, convulsions, and finally cardiacand respiratorycollapse. There is no known effective antidote. In humans, 1080 poisoning has somewhat similar symptoms to an acute heart attack. Symptoms in domestic animals vary: dogs tend to show nervous system signs such as convulsions and uncontrollable running, whilst large herbivores such as cattle and sheep more predominantly show cardiac signs.

Sub-lethal doses of 1080 may cause damage to tissues with high energy needs — in particular, the brain, gonads, heart, lungsand foetus. Sub-lethal doses are typically completely metabolised and excreted within four days.

Because of the biochemical interference in the TCA or Krebs Cycle, 1080 poisoning is very difficult to treat, as once clinical symptoms are shown, the Krebs Cycle has shut down. Research in monkeys has shown that the use of glyceryl monoacetatecan prevent problems if given after ingestion of 1080, and this has been done in domestic animals with some positive results. The theory of using glyceryl monoacetate is that it will supply acetate ions to allow continuation of the cellular respiration process which the 1080 has disrupted.

In clinical cases, use of muscle relaxants, anti-convulsants, mechanical ventilationand other supportive measures may all be required. Few animals or people have been treated successfully after significant 1080 ingestions.

Natural occurrence

Sodium fluoroacetate occurs naturally in at least 40 plants in Australia, Braziland Africa. It is believed that the compound is even present in tealeaves in tiny amounts. The Australian pea family Gastrolobium("poison peas"), have 1080 in the leaf tips and seeds. This forces livestock farmers in Western Australiato hand-weed out all the poison from their paddocks. It also means that some Western Australian herbivores have developed (by natural selection) partial immunityto the effects of fluoroacetate.

Uses

Image:Brushtail possum.jpg Farmers and graziers use the poison to protect pastures and crops from various herbivorous mammals.

1080 is used in New Zealandto control the Common Brushtail Possum, an animal pest introduced from Australia. As the Possum is from the eastern states of Australia and is a mainly arborealforager, it has never developed a resistance to 1080.

Project Western Shieldis a recent project to boost populations of endangered mammals in south-west Australia. The project is to drop 1080 baited meat from helicoptersor light aircraftto kill predators. Wild dogsand foxeswill readily eat the baited meat. Catspose a greater difficulty as cats aren't interested in already dead animals. However, recently a pilot tried putting small sound generators inside the baits with significant positive results.

However, 1080 isn't always used for conservation. In Tasmania logging companies use 1080 to poison native wildlife (wallabies and possums in particular) that browse on seedlings in tree plantations. The Tasmanian State Government has undertaken to cease the use of 1080 poison only in State Forests from the end of December 2005 (approx 23% of total use in Tasmania). Private forestry, farmers and graziers can legally continue to use 1080 to poison native wildlife in Tasmania.

External links

• New Zealand Department of Conservationperspective on the use of 1080
• Western Australian CALM report on their Western Shield project.
• Press release on the ban of 1080 use in Tasmanian forests
• Notes on 1080 use for controlling predators in Idahoet:Naatriumfluoroatsetaat

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1080+%28poison%29 Wikipedia article 1080 (poison).