This snake oil is not a ‘snake oil’.
The invading Burmese python has become a major problem in the US, especially in swampy states like Florida. But in terms of coronavirus prevention, these giant snakes may be part of the solution – thanks to their medicinal snake oil.
Reptile hunters who once tried to reduce the out-of-control python population in the Everglades are now watching the predators for a whole new reason – in pursuit of their abundance squalene, a lipid produced by the body’s sebaceous glands . The substance has become an important ingredient in the manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines.
“There are some very healing properties in the snake,” says Dusty Crum, or the “Wildman,” according to Fox 13 of 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.
Squaleen is found naturally in many plants and animals, including humans, and is frequently used in skin care and cosmetics as a emollient and skin protective antioxidant. Regarding the medicinal applications, scientists say that squalene facilitates our immune response to get the most out of vaccines – a therapeutic additive called an additive. Although the ingredient is not currently listed as the Pfizer or Moderna coronavirus vaccine, shark-derived scales have been used in at least five other potential vaccine recipes tested last year, according to the World Health Organization’s data.
One of the most common ways we can get extra squalene is through shark livers, where the oil is plentiful, but concerns about overfishing have led researchers to look for a source elsewhere.
Enter: the invasive Burmese pythons of Florida, which the state has wreaked havoc in recent years.
“A typical 12-foot python can produce enough squalene for about 3,400 doses of vaccine,” Daryl Thompson, spokeswoman for Global Research and Discovery Group Sciences, said in a statement to Fox 13.
“It’s not as much as a shark can do, but it’s much more sustainable,” added Thompson, who plans to submit findings on python squalene to the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority as part of last year’s government-backed vaccine research program Operation Warp Speed.
At the same time, Florida experts are eager to see an ethical solution to the state’s python problems.
“We’re taking a bad situation and making something good out of it,” Crum said. “It has the potential to help many people heal and possibly save many lives.”
However, some animal advocates argue that hunting python squalene only transmits a threat from one species to another.
“Harvesting something from a wild animal will never be sustainable, especially if it is a predator that does not reproduce in large numbers,” said Stefanie Brendl, founder of the shark conservation group Shark Allies, in a recent statement told Telegraph.
“We are not trying to slow down or hinder the production of a vaccine,” Brendl added. “We are simply asking that testing of non-animal squalene be done with shark squalene so that it can be replaced as soon as possible.