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Insect farms seem to come to stay. The European Union wants begin to be part of our diet And there are countries like Spain that are putting the batteries. An example is the Tebrio Plant in Salamancawhat will be the Greater Flour worm farm. But, in addition to producing food, we also raise other unusual animals, such as scorpions. In countries like Egypt, Mexico or China, scorpions have become a business. And not only do they raise them: they order them. Life poison. Scorpion is an animal that cool. There are more than 2,000 species, they are all over the world, except in Antarctica, and They have extraordinary characteristics. The sting and tweezers attract attention, but they have a very hard exoskeleton, they can regulate the amount of poison they inject at will, they have an excellent night vision, great control of metabolism and endure their breath almost a week. Come on, they have been here for 400 million years and are older than dinosaurs, so they have had to force everything that has been preceded. Now, much less than we can think are dangerous for humans. The poison is designed for the hunt for their prey and, of those 2,000 species, only between 25 and 50 would be in danger (and the bites of many of them would not be lethal). Farms. And it is precisely that poison that interests us as a species. The amount of poison that a few hundred copies have would be insufficient, so places are needed in which to house thousands of these arachnids. And when I talk about thousands … it’s thousands. Nigeria is one power in the breeding of scorpions, but also China, Thailand, Mexico or Egypt. In this country There are facilities With 80,000 copies. Eighty thousand scorpions, which is said soon. These farms require specific conditions for parenting, with areas adapted to the species in which they have specialized and a number of specimens that varies depending on the objective. Thus, farms can be used to have copies to release and help us control pests. They can be part of a laboratory of Antivenene Research Or, directly, a farm in which we milked them. Milking scorpions. Ordering animals has nothing strange, but we must recognize that ordering scorpions is something that comes out of the ordinary. What interests is his poison, and farmers like Metin Orenler give the key in ABS Science To do so: patience, pulse, courage and a game of tweezers with which to extract the poison. The problem is that each of its scorpions (Androctonus turiyensiswhere appropriate) only produces two milligrams of poison a day. It is very little and is the reason why these farms have tens of thousands of copies. In the case of Orenler, 20,000 scorpions. Liquid gold. After milking it, they freeze it into liquid nitrogen, they make it powder and this Turkish farm sells it to Europe to Medical researchbut there are other countries (especially in Asia) that are also very interested in this scorpion poison dust. And this is where the key is: the scorpion poison is the liquid More expensive of the world. How much? Orender states that ten million liter. It is necessary to milked a lot to reach those amounts, it is evident, but still … Why is it paid so much? Potential. For many reasons, really. We have already talked about the research, and in ABC, Volker Herzig, who is a professor at the University of Sunshine Coast, comments that peptides and proteins, very numerous in the scorpion venom, can be isolated and analyzed to create something beneficial for us. For example, for the biological control of insects and parasites in agriculture or veterinary, but also to treat human diseases. Herzig explains that they are powerful and very specific compounds and that, if they manage to combine properly, they can be almost miraculous. “Let’s say that a protein is hyperactive in a disease, so if you find a poison toxin – scorpion – that manages to block it, a measure can be created to combat it.” The researcher points out that they have found components with potential to treat epilepsy, irritable colon and even strokes. Dorothy Wai is a researcher at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Monash and also studies medical uses of the poison. And his research focuses on the treatment of autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, thanks to a protein called KV1.3 present in this substance. Following the venom trace. The problem is that Herzig also comments that, although he has received offers from farms to buy poison, he rarely buys because “you can never be sure of the origin.” That is, if he needs something very specific and contact him from India (something that has happened), he does not know if they really want to sell the poison because of how lucrative it is or because it is the concrete venom you need for your research. “I think that several more toxinologists have received similar offers,” he says, adding that what he has decided to make samples is … traveling through Europe and manually milking scorpions raised by individuals. He assures that there is “a great movement in Europe of people who raise spiders and scorpions as pets”, and what really awakens my curiosity, and also a itching in the back, is the phrase of “visits to someone and has 200 copies in the basement.” Cosmetics. Wait, how much money these researchers have? The answer is that it is not they who take the bulk of production, but the cosmetics industry, which adds scorpion or extracts to their products, as well as traditional medicine companies. Teams like Herzig’s no longer collect poison, because when they sequence DNA, they don’t need more, but to create traditional medicines not backed by scientific evidence or new cosmetics, you do need large quantities. On this, the researcher comments that he does not know what they put to these products and that it would be cautious, … Read more