sodium fluoroacetate

[ floor-oh-as-i-teyt, flawr-oh-, flohr-oh- ]

noun

, Chemistry.

1. a white, amorphous, water-soluble, poisonous powder, C 2 H 2 FO 2 Na, used as a rodenticide.

sodium fluoroacetate

/ ˌflʊərəʊˈæsɪˌteɪt /

noun

1. a white crystalline odourless poisonous compound, used as a rodenticide. Formula: (CH 2 FCOO)Na

Word History and Origins

Origin of sodium fluoroacetate¹

First recorded in 1940–45; fluoro- + acetate

Example Sentences

Sodium fluoroacetate, an odorless salt used in New Zealand and a handful of other countries to control pests, has no antidote and kills an animal by interrupting its metabolism.

From Salon

Leshem, who was working for the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, was worried that to control the pests, farmers were overusing a rodent-killing chemical called sodium fluoroacetate, or compound 1080.

From Nature

Other pest control methods have proved contentious, including use of the poison 1080, sodium fluoroacetate.

From Seattle Times

The standard practice for killing rats and other invaders is to lace bait stations with a poison — usually sodium fluoroacetate, known as 1080, or the anticoagulant brodifacoum — and to spread the poison across the landscape by helicopter.

From Nature

Controversially, New Zealand also drops from the air the poison sodium fluoroacetate, also known as 1080, although conservationists hope that the new initiative will involve trying out alternative approaches.

From Time