Reckitt Benckiser is a manufacturer of a variety of household cleaning and pesticide products, including rodenticides, sold widely under the D-Con brand. In recent years Reckitt Benckiser has formulated rodenticide products using what is known as a “second-generation” anti-coagulant, brodifacoum. The term second-generation refers to the lack of resistance in rodents, which has developed in some cases to earlier, “first-generation” anti-coagulant products, such as warfarin.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on May 21, 2009, that it has reformed the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), again. According to EPA, the revisions are intended to “revitalize the program and ensure its scientific quality, integrity, transparency and timeliness.” In a May 21, 2009, memorandum, Administrator Jackson states that recent changes, including procedures formalized in an April 21, 2008, memorandum, “have reduced the transparency, timeliness, and scientific integrity of the IRIS process.”