New York City to look at birth control for rats to combat rodent population

New York City has announced plans to look at birth control for rats to combat the rodent population.

Councilmember Shaun Abreu (D-Manhattan) has proposed a rat birth control program jointly run by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the Department of Sanitation in the latest attempt to quell the plague.

Abreu, who helms the Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management said “ContraPest pellets” would work together with the city’s broader push to fight rats.

”We believe that we need to take a shock-and-awe approach to the rat problem by throwing everything we have at it,’’ the Democrat said in council chambers Thursday.

According to the NY Post, the contraceptives would be deployed in rat mitigation zones that cover at least 10 city blocks. The pellets, which have an active ingredient called “triptolide” in them, will sterilize both male and female rats and impact ovarian function and sperm cell production.