| Show red now popular poison effective powder in control of rats does not harm other animals Wre prepared pared by the tha united states department ot agriculture service A an onion like plant that grows wild along the mediterranean coast produces the safest rat poison yet known it Is called red and it produces large bulbs bulba that are made into the red powder that has proved so BO effective in killing rats so says saya a leaflet on red powders in rat flat control just issued bissu d by the united states department of agriculture powder uniformly poisonous red had been known in europe for many years says the leaflet but apparently its use had not become popular owing to extreme variation in the toxicity of the products available studies by the bureau of biological survey united states department of agriculture however showed that drying red bulbs under controlled temperature conditions makes it possible to produce a powder that Is uniformly poisonous the powder although effective ln in destroying rats does not seriously endanger other animal life reports of the progress of the investigation and the excellent results obtained in the early stages stimulated interest and powdered red Is now manufactured in quantity in the united states so far as known the first of these comi com i mercial red powders was placed on the american market in ili 1020 1920 and in five years these products have taken a leading place among rat poisons sons preparing balts galts more afore than a year ado ago the department published a technical bulletin red powders n ns s ra tl el des div ing in detail the results of the investigations gat ions lons the new leaflet summarizes in popular form the technical bulletin and gives directions for preparing and exposing red baits for rat control it also discusses tile the effect of red on animals other than rats showing that this poison Is 18 relatively harmless to human beings and domestic animals As a test epst one of the authors of the leaflet swallowed 15 grains of a toxic bolc red pow powder der with no apparent harm mid later took 40 grains which caused nausea and vomiting within 15 minutes but n no other effect red powder w when h en mixed with food in the ration recommended for rat control Is not likely it Is stilted stated to cause serious harm to farm animals in good health it ft Is 18 possible that the irritant may cause death under tinder certain conditions so far as possible therefore red baits for rats rate should be kept out of reach of other animals copies of leaflet lenglet 05 L just published may lle be had free on request to office of information united states department of agriculture washing ton D C and copies of the longer report technical bulletin T may fie purchased for 10 cents each from the superintendents of documents government printing office washington D 0 |
