China's Rats Put On Contraceptives
Shanghai's rapidly reproducing rats are to be fed a birth control drug in an effort to keep the numbers down.

June 26, 2002

The drug is considered safer than poison

Shanghai's rapidly reproducing rat population is to be fed contraceptives in an effort to keep it under control, Chinese media has reported.

The chemical will be mixed with tempting food to lure the rats, which have become fussy eaters as a result of the range of diet afforded by the city's development, according to the Shanghai Daily on Wednesday.

Shanghai's economic boom has made its rats fussy eaters

To make the laced food - fish meal and spices - even more irresistible, it will contain an addictive drug.

The new form of rat control, though more expensive, will be more environmentally friendly and safer for Shanghai's human population, the paper said.

Poisoned children

A doctor at a local hospital said that children accidentally consuming rat poison was a common hazard.

"We have treated many kids from rural families who have eaten rat poison," Dr Ji Qinying, from the Shanghai Children's Medical Centre, told the paper.

The contraceptive, which is extracted from cottonseed, acts as a spermicide.

It is currently being tested in 100 locations around Shanghai.

"This drug is in trial use. If it proves successful based on the results from the pilot tests and other examinations, we will consider promoting it," the city's health campaigns officer Jin Peiwu told the newspaper.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/asia-pacific/2066787.stm