ContraPest is the first U.S. EPA registered

contraceptive Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth cont ...

pest control Pest control is the regulation or management of a species defined as a pest; any animal, plant or fungus that impacts adversely on human activities or environment. The human response depends on the importance of the damage done and will range ...

tool designed to reduce fertility in

brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model use ...

and black rats, developed by the U.S.

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

company SenesTech. It is a flavored liquid, designed to be attractive to, and to be consumed by, the target animals in order to reduce the population over time. ContraPest is a contraceptive, not a

sterilant Sterilization refers to any process that removes, kills, or deactivates all forms of life (particularly microorganisms such as fungi, bacteria, spores, and unicellular eukaryotic organisms) and other biological agents such as prions present in ...

, so a continuous supply maintains reduced populations. ContraPest was initially tested in Indonesian rice fields, South Carolina pig farms, the suburbs of Boston and the New York City subway, and caused a reduction in rat populations of roughly 40% over a period of 12 weeks. The product was approved for commercial use by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in August 2016.

History

The formula was originally used by Dr. Loretta Mayer and Dr. Cheryl Dyer as part of a research program to study

heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, ...

in post-menopausal women through menopausal mice. The active ingredient of ContraPest is the chemical 4-vinylcyclohexene diepoxide (VCD), which is a known killer of

oocyte An oocyte (, ), oöcyte, or ovocyte is a female gametocyte or germ cell involved in reproduction. In other words, it is an immature ovum, or egg cell. An oocyte is produced in a female fetus in the ovary during female gametogenesis. The femal ...

s in immature

ovarian follicle An ovarian follicle is a roughly spheroid cellular aggregation set found in the ovaries. It secretes hormones that influence stages of the menstrual cycle. At the time of puberty, women have approximately 200,000 to 300,000 follicles, each with t ...

s. ContraPest also contains

triptolide Triptolide is a diterpenoid epoxide which is produced by the thunder god vine, ''Tripterygium wilfordii''. It has ''in vitro'' and ''in vivo'' activities against mouse models of polycystic kidney disease and pancreatic cancer, but its physical p ...

, which the company reports has adverse reproductive effects on both males and females.

Deployment

Currently the city of Washington D.C. is utilizing a 5,000 unit, four-year supply of ContraPest to be used in all eight wards of the city in an attempt to combat the increasing rat population. Other notable locations include San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department with 65% reduction in rat burrows, deployment at a major transit agency in Southern California, as well as by the St. Louis Gateway Arch Park Foundation in Missouri.

References

Reproductive toxins Mammal pest control {{chem-stub