This snake oil is not a “snake oil”.
Burmese invasive python has become a major problem in the United States, especially in swampy states such as Florida. But when it comes to preventing coronavirus, these giant snakes can be part of the solution – thanks to their medicinal snake oil.
Reptile hunters who once sought to reduce the population of uncontrolled pythons out of control in the Everglades are now chasing predators for a whole new reason – in search of their abundance of squalene, a lipid produced by the body’s sebaceous glands. The substance has become a key ingredient in the manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines.
“There are some healing properties in snakes,” said Dusty Crum, aka “Wildman,” according to Fox 13. Tampa Bay. “If you go back to traditional medicine, they’ve been using python and python components for thousands of years,” he told a reporter last month.
Squalene occurs naturally in many plants and animals, including humans, and is frequently used in skin care and cosmetics, already as an emollient and skin protection antioxidant. As for its medicinal applications, scientists say that squalene facilitates our immune response to get the most out of vaccines – a therapeutic additive called adjuvant. Although the ingredient is not currently listed as part of Pfizer or Moderna coronavirus vaccines, shark-derived squalene has been used in at least five other potential vaccine recipes tested last year, according to the World Health Organization.
One of the most common ways we get our hands on the reserve squalene is through shark liver, where oil is plentiful, but concerns about overfishing have led researchers to look elsewhere for a source.
Enter: invading Burmese pythons from Florida, which have wreaked havoc in the state in recent years.
“A typical 12-foot python can produce enough squalene for about 3,400 doses of vaccine,” Daryl Thompson, a spokeswoman for Global Research and Discovery Group Sciences, said in a statement to Fox 13.
“It’s not as big as a shark, but it’s much more durable,” added Thompson, who plans to present findings on python squalene to the Authority for Advanced Biomedical Research and Development as part of the government-backed vaccine research program. since last year Warp speed.
At the same time, Florida wildlife experts are eager to see an ethical solution to the state’s python problems.
“We take a bad situation and do something good out of it,” Crum said. “This has the potential to help heal many people and probably save many lives.”
However, some animal advocates claim that python squalene hunting only transfers a threat from one species to another.
“Harvesting something from a wild animal will never be sustainable, especially if it is a top predator that does not breed in large numbers,” said Stefanie Brendl, founder of the Shark Allies Shark Conservation Group, in a recent statement. for the Telegraph.
“We are not trying to slow down or prevent a vaccine,” Brendl added. “We are simply asking that non-animal squalene testing be carried out with shark squalene so that it can be replaced as soon as possible.