Boston Public Radio Podcast

On Friday, food writer Corby Kummer joined Boston Public Radio to discuss a recent article in "The Conversation," positing that city rat populations could be lowered not by increasing the use of rodenticides, but by wasting less food. "This a story saying, stop wasting so much food. Be a lot more careful about throwing out food, and be a lot more careful when you do throw it out,” Kummer said. In January, Malibu, Calif., banned rodenticides in an attempt to protect the local non-rat wildlife. A bill to make that ban statewide failed to pass the state Senate, but may reappear. Boston, meanwhile, continues to use rodenticides. Read More: Rethinking The Way We Handle Rats “Rats are like people,” Kummer said. “They like exactly the same food that people do, and in fact they have evolved in different countries — in Paris … they like butter, cheese and croissants!” (Readers will of course recall the iconic New York City Pizza Rat, who went viral in 2015.) “[Rats] like what people dump and put into open garbag