1080 is used in New Zealand in the fight eradicate pests like possums. If we didn't use it, the Department of Conservation (DOC) says native birds like the kiwi could be wiped out.
But a documentary that is just about to be released claims that it's doing the complete opposite and is in fact killing native wildlife.
Footage taken by documentary makers the Graf brothers shows a number of animals feeding on 1080, as well as eels eating possums and pigs which have died in rivers after eating the poison.
"One of the major problems with 1080 poison is that it's a secondary killer, so it doesn't just kill the animal that eats the bait, it goes on killing long after," says Steve Graf. "Anything that eats that carcass also gets poisoned."
The Graf brothers have spent the past year filming up and down the country in places where 1080 has been dropped.
As well as the poisoning of native animals, they also claim they have evidence that DOC and the Animal Health Board have not been following their own guidelines for the use of 1080.
"They say 'we don't drop it into waterways, we don't drop it onto tracks, we only drop it into the rugged remote country,' this is all totally false," Mr Graf says.
1080 has been used in New Zealand for more than 50 years and each year 2,000 tonnes of bait is dropped on the country.
In the documentary, the Graf brothers have interviewed farmers who say those contractors don't always follow the accepted guidelines.
The farmers claim their stock has been killed by accidental poisoning and occasionally the contractors have asked them to cover up for those deaths.
Poisoning Paradise will be released at the end of this month and the Graf brothers will be touring it around South Island towns starting in Marlborough.