WAR ON RATS

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 147, 19 December 1945, Page 6

WAR ON RATS

NEW WEAPON DISCOVERED

NEW YORK, December 6.

A newly-discovered rodent killer, "1080," may prove invaluable in helping to control the rabbit pest. Development of 1080 gives hope of waging the most successful fight yet against rats. Experiments show that 1080 will also easily kill rabbits. % In an article in the "Saturday Evening Post" by Dr. Clarence Cottam and Dr. Herbert Zim, the two American research workers trace the history of 1080. Rats have caused more human deaths than all the wars in history. Yearly damage attributed to them in the United States is estimated at 500 million dollars, and more than 1000 million dollars for the rest of the world. When, in 1942, the supply of strychnine from the East Indies and red squill from Italy and North Africa was cut off, a revitalised search for a new rodent poison became urgent. In July, 1944, the 1080 th compound tried was administered to rats through stomach tubes. It was a substance known chemically as sodium fluoroacetate, and given to experimental animals in solutions so diluted that they contained a poison equal to as little as a ten-millionth of the rat's weight.

Rats receiving heavier doses died within an hour. Every single rat was dead the next morning. The preparation showed excellent results when mixed with grain and other baits.