It was an interesting history lesson from D Marquand (The Weekend Sun, March 15).

But he fails to mention that these days, 1080 dosage rates per hectare have steadily dropped from the time he mentions (1970s and 80s), and are now between 1-to-3kg per hectare, not 20-to-30kg as they were back in the day.

Carrot baits are very infrequently used now. The DOC hasn't used then since 2008.

And to R Hodgson, 1080 is banned in the USA because of the potential harm to their native land mammals, not because of its risk to humans. However, it is still manufactured there.

It has been thoroughly tested and does not cause cancer, mutate genes or create all the other horrors the anti-1080 brigade would have us believe. It does not stay in the ecosystem but breaks down.

Our 'highest cancer rates” surely apply to melanoma, caused by too much sun. Other cancer rates are high, as in most developed nations, due to diet in the main. If ours were low it would be an anomaly.

Quite simply, we can have pests or native wildlife, but not both, and 1080 is currently the most cost-effective tool in the box. And yes, I give up my own time to go trapping, unlike many of the keyboard critics.

J Begley, Tauranga (abridged).