A new rat poison, which reduces rat populations by making male rats sterile, obtained a patent from the state intellectual property right protection authority recently.

The rat poison was developed by Ye Wenhu, a standing committee member of the Genetics Society of China and a part-time professor of Fudan University in Shanghai. Its main ingredient is tripterygium wilfordii, a kind of traditional Chinese medicine.

The rat poison is fragrant and attractive to the rodents. After eating the toxicant, male rats will produce less sperm and finally become sterile, because the poison limits the lactic dehydrogenase inside testicle of a male rat.

This is the most economical way to fight rats, and poses no harm to humans, Ye said.

Experiments at a designated farm have yielded satisfying results. Tests in 47,000 households and 5,600 work units in Huangpu District of Shanghai showed the density of rats had reduced by 30 percent three months after the tests and dropped by 88 percent half a year later.

The rat poison has been approved for sale in Australia. Some other countries including Vietnam, Canada, India and the United States have also placed orders for purchase.

Rats are not only harmful to forest, grassland and food storage, but also spread disease. Statistics showed rats across China eat 25 billion kg of grain annually, equivalent to the consumption of 100 million people.

Source: Xinhua