Word: warfarin
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...fact that bats, like rats, are more sensitive than most mammals to the hemorrhagic properties of anticoagulants. These are the chemicals used medicinally to protect human victims of heart attacks and strokes against the recurrence of dangerous blood clotting; overdoses can cause fatal internal bleeding. The best known anticoagulant, warfarin, is used in calculated overdoses as a rat poison. In 1968 a two-nation team began work at the National Livestock Research Institute in Mexico City and the U.S. Department of the Interior's Wildlife Research Center in Denver to try to kill bats with an anticoagulant. Choosing...
...fight the rodents, the ancients used cats. Modern societies have tried potent poisons like strychnine and zinc phosphide. Trouble is, they not only kill rats but friendly animals and unwary human beings as well. In 1947, a better weapon appeared: an anticoagulant called warfarin. In small doses, it does not harm large animals. But when a rat swallowed it, it caused internal bleeding and death, usually within five days. For about 25 years, man felt he had the rat on the run. No more. British health authorities have discovered that brown "house" rats (Rattus norvegicus) in Wales and black "ship...
...aren't exactly alarmed-the Ministry of Agriculture is never alarmed -but we are working very hard to find an alternative to warfarin," says a British government official. Even so, the rats have a final defense that has made a fool of man since the combat began. The average female produces up to twelve litters a year, and in each litter are ten ravenous young rats...