WAR ON RATS

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVIII, Issue 23392, 26 December 1945, Page 2

WAR ON RATS

New Weapon Discovered NEW YORK, Dec. 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 m the United States is estimated at 500000,000 dollars, and more than 1,000000.000 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 1080th 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 thev 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.