All New Yorkers know that rodents are their not-so-friendly neighbors when they commute to and from school or work via subway. New York is the home of almost 32 million of these vermin that cause diseases. Many of them have made the underground railway system their home. To take care of this problem, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has used inhumane methods such as poison and traps to kill or capture the rats, but all in vain. In 2013, they had partnered with SenesTech and the National Institute of Health to experiment with a new product known as ContraPest® to deplete the rodent problem in a bid that they believe is a “sustainable and humane approach to pest control.” It is supposed to be a rodenticide of a different kind. In August 2016, the EPA has approved ContraPest® for pest control through fertility control, which means it is now available for commercial sale.
SenesTech is a bio-technical company that was founded by scientists Dr. Loretta Mayer and Dr. Cheryl Dyer. They have taken animal population control technology by a storm. They look to create pest control products that are humane but effective. They do not create lethal or environmentally harmful products. That is the basis on which they crafted ContraPest®.
Related: VIVA THE RATS! EXTERMINATE OR PROTECT?
Mayer claims, “Municipalities are perpetually faced with the constant harm caused by rodent overpopulation, including the transmission of diseases, damage to public infrastructure, as well as destruction and contamination of food supplies.”
She further explains, “ContraPest® is more humane, less harmful to the environment, and more effective in providing a sustainable solution to rodent pest infestations than traditional lethal methods, such as rodenticides, which contain lethal chemicals that can be toxic to humans and other animals.”
ContraPest® is a liquid reproductive sterilizer for both male and female rats. Females have egg loss while males’ sperm production is limited and eventually fully diminished. Besides attacking their reproductive system, the rats are otherwise unharmed and live their natural lives of the eight months to a year. In order for the product to work, the rats must ingest 10 percent of their body weight in ContraPest®, for five to 10 days. As for already pregnant rats, their babies are unaffected by the liquid. However, female babies are sterile. The sterilizer has been put in the garbage rooms of train stations and has been successful thus far. In the last three years, there have been no harmful effects to humans reported.
The most common rat found in the New York train system is the Norway rat, also known as the street rat. They are omnivorous creatures who eat everything from fruits to dead animals. They love to live in dark environments with a wide supply of water, which explains why they love the underground subway. They like to stay out of sight during the day and come out in the dark unless the infestation is so much that they are forced to come out in the day.
Their reproductive system is the cause for most concern, which is why the solution that seems to be the most successful is ContraPest®. The female rat becomes sexually mature from two to five months. They can have from four to 22 babies at once. They can also have three to 12 litters of babies every year.
ContraPest® has proven to be safe for humans and the environment. Once the product is ingested, it becomes inactive and stays inactive even after excretion. Once the rat’s urine or feces is excreted, the product breaks down into by-products when it touches soil or water. Even if beforehand the product is ingested by any other animal, it is not harmful.
Despite the fact that ContraPest® is EPA approved and SenesTech claims that this is the most humane way to get rid of the rodent problem in the subway system, it can still be debated whether this is truly humane; whether it is truly a rodenticide of a different kind. Just because it is not lethal to the rats, doesn’t mean that it is not cruel. But then again, it comes down to the decision between two bad choices. Using ContraPest® is certainly the lesser of the two evils.
