Dear friends,
Here is the official MC Response to 60 Minutes Story on Kenyan Lion Poisonings
March 29, 2009
On Sunday, March 29, CBS News 60 Minutes aired a story on the human-wildlife conflict in Kenya that reports Furadan®, an FMC insecticide, has become the preferred product that many cattle herders use to poison lions that kill their livestock. FMC strongly condemns the use of its products to kill wildlife and is very concerned about these allegations. The company has taken several actions to address the situation including:
- Stopping all sales of Furadan to Kenya immediately after learning of an incident in May 2008
- Immediately initiating a Furadan buy-back program in Kenya to remove any remaining product from the market
- Direct outreach to leading conservationists to get any data concerning lion poisonings
In the segment, “60 Minutes” implies that more than 75 lion poisonings have been caused by Furadan. We are greatly troubled by the potential magnitude of this situation as it has never been brought to our attention despite our repeated requests to the Kenyan Wildlife Service to share any and all information about lion poisonings.
When a report surfaced last year that Furadan may have been involved in poisoning lions in the Maasai Mara region of Kenya, FMC immediately suspended the introduction of any additional Furadan into the distribution channel. We have now instituted a buy-back of Furadan to speed its removal from the market. We will not reintroduce Furadan into Kenya until appropriate safeguards are in place.
FMC is a global company dedicated to delivering innovative products that improve the lives of people around the world. We take tremendous pride, not only in our products, but in our stewardship programs. We will continue to work with the Kenyan government, agricultural industry and conservation groups to try to prevent the misuse of our product or any other pesticide used to kill wildlife.
For further information about FMC products and stewardship initiatives, please visit www.furadanfacts.com.
Media contact: Jim Fitzwater – 215.299.6633 or james.fitzwater@fmc.com
Download: FMC Statement on 60 Minutes Story on Lion Poisonings – Press Statement (
PDF, 137KB)
3 Comments
Bravo to all who helped make this happen…
thats a positive move! how come the local media has not picked up the story?
I would be more than happy to call or write FMC telling them that I read the article and how thrilled I am that they would make such an environmentally responsible decision like that. Please let me know if there is a direct contact. I believe that this type of correspondence makes people/company’s more apt to change their ways when the receive direct correspondence from individuals who have actually “seen” and “noticed” their efforts.
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[...] the 60 Minutes story on lion poisonings, the company responsible for Furadan is taking measures to remove it completely from Kenya, including a buy-back program to target old [...]