Rats on the pill: New York City Council passes bill for trial birth control pills on rats

By: Lora Reyes - 1 month ago

New York is known for a bunch of stuff: yellow taxi cabs, tall skyscrapers, city lights, pizza, and Broadway. But there is also one thing the Big Apple is infamous for: rat problems, and the city has a plan to reduce the vast population of rodents through birth control pills.

Last week, the New York City Council approved a bill establishing a pilot program to deploy rat contraceptives as part of its efforts to mitigate the rodent population in the city.

The local bill mandated the health and sanitation departments to team up and put contraceptive pellets called ContraPest in special rat-accessible containers in several parts of the city starting next year.

Containers with rat contraceptives would be observed for at least a year to determine their effectiveness level. The bill’s whole gist is that once rats ingest these pellets, there will be a significant decrease in the rodents’ birth rate, making them infertile.

“For no less than 12 months immediately after the deployment of the rat contraceptive, the department shall perform monthly inspections of each pilot program area and each pilot program comparison area and shall tally all rat signs observed in each area, disaggregated by type of rat sign,” the local bill read. “During such monthly inspections of the pilot program areas, the department shall track the amount of rat contraceptive in each rat contraceptive dispenser.”

This pilot program had its genesis after Flaco, the city’s beloved owl, was found dead after consuming rat poison earlier this year.

Due to this, lawmakers thought of a new innovative way to reduce the city’s rat problems while preventing other animals from the environmental hazards of traditional poisons.

According to SenesTech, the company behind Contrapest, this program is a more humane approach to tackling the city’s infamous pest problems. It is non-toxic and “poses no danger” to other animals and the environment as well.

The company said that each dose of this plant-based contraceptive prevents rats from reproducing, and with regular consumption, their population can be reduced by 95%.

“ContraPest limits reproduction, making it an ethical and sustainable choice for long-term rodent management,” the company claimed.

New York’s unconventional effort to curb the rat infestation in the city has caught a lot of people’s attention, with many of them expressing their disbelief that rats will be given access to birth control pills.

New York has been long famous for its rat problems, with the Big Apple ranking as the third “rattiest” city in the United States of America. According to the M and M Pest Control, approximately 3 million rats are plaguing the city and officials have been trying to mitigate the infestation.

Last year, New York City Mayor Eric Adams appointed the city’s first-ever rat czar, Kathleen Corradi, who was tasked to “send rats packing” with new mitigation techniques and extensive efforts towards a cleaner New York City.

Rats having access to birth control pills are definitely not included in our 2024 bingo cards, yet here we are…

 

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