SCORPION VENOM MILKING IN INDIA:AN INSIGHT REPORT
Scorpion venom is the most expensive liquid in the world – here’s why it costs $39 million per gallon
- Scorpionvenom is not only dangerous – it can also make you quite a bit of money.
- The deathstalker is one of the most dangerous scorpions on the planet, and its venomis also the most expensive liquid in the world at $39 million per gallon.
- But it’s not so simple to just buy a gallon – you’d have to milk one scorpion 2.64 million times to fill a gallon.
The deathstalker is one of the most dangerous scorpions on the planet, and what makes it so dangerous also happens to be the most expensive liquid in the world. This stuff costs $39 million per gallon. Now, even if you had the money, you couldn’t just go and buy a gallon of the stuff, because you can only get it in tiny, minuscule amounts. $130 will get you a droplet that’s smaller than a grain of sugar.
The reason why is pretty simple: the stuff is hard to get. Scorpions are almost always milked by hand, one by one. And one scorpion produces, at the most, just two milligrams of venom at a time.
So, let’s do the math. If you owned one scorpion you would have to milk it 2.64 million times to fill a gallon. And let’s face it, you’d probably get stung along the way as well. One sting isn’t enough to kill a healthy human, but I think it hurts.
That’s Venomtech founder Steve Trim, one of the few people brave enough to deal with these animals. That’s because inside that deadly venom, there’s actually tons of useful components that are helping pioneer breakthrough medicines.
Chlorotoxins, for example, are the perfect size to bind with certain cancer cells in the brain and spine, which is helpful for identifying the specific size and location of tumors. And researchers have used scorpine to eliminate malaria in mosquitoes. Kaliotoxin has been given to rats to fight bone disease. Scientists hope it could work in humans too.
These are just a few of the medical benefits that researchers have found in scorpion venom. And the more they research it, the more uses they find. Which means demand for this miracle venom continues to grow. So scientists are now trying to figure out ways to get more of it faster.
Like this group out of Morocco, who invented the first remote control machine for milking scorpions. It can safely milk up to four scorpions at a time. It might not sound like much, but it’s four times faster than a human. Scientists hope to get on the market within a few years, making the whole process faster and safer.
“Faster and safer?”, you’re probably thinking, “Hmmm, maybe I should start my own scorpion farm.”
Well, get in line, wise guy.
Steve Trim: There clearly has been a surge in people thinking, “Oh, this is a get rich quick scheme.” But with people not understanding how scorpion venom is used. We have seen a rise in the number of people saying they’ve got 300 grams of scorpion venom, do we want to buy it? And the answer is “No, we’ve got our own.”
It is illegal to raise Scorpions.However special permission cab sought on the grounds of export and supply to medicare companies.Ministry of environment and forest as well as Ministry of health could be approached for furthering the process.
What is Scorpion Venom?
Scorpion Venom is a neurotoxic chemical which is harvested from different types of Scorpions. If injected directly, it can paralyze the whole nervous system.
However, besides toxicity, it also contains pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic characteristics which have multiple benefits in the medical field.
Among all the different scorpions, the Deathstalker Scorpion is the most dangerous and its venom ($39 million per gallon) is used for multiple medical purposes.
Understanding a Scorpion Structure
The Scorpion body is divided into 3 main parts – prosoma (the head), opisthosoma (the abdomen), and the metasoma (the tail).
Here’s the complete Scorpion Anatomy:
Image Source: Wikipedia
1 = Cephalothorax or Prosoma
2 = Abdomen or Mesosoma
3 = Tail or Metasoma
4 = Claws or Pedipalps
5 = Legs
6 = Mouthparts or Chelicerae
7 = Pincers or Chelae
8 = Moveable claw or Tarsus
9 = Fixed claw or Manus
10 = Stinger or Aculeus
11 = Telson (anus in the previous joint)
12 = Opening of book lungs
Types of Scorpion Species
Followings are the main types of scorpion species, which are:
- Emperor Scorpion
- Red Claw Scorpion
- Red Scorpion
- Blue Scorpion
- Arizona Bark Scorpion
- Pseudo Scorpion
- Giant Forest Scorpion
- Tailless Whip Scorpion
- Fat Tail Scorpion
- DeathStalker Scorpion
- Three Striped Scorpion
- Arizona Hairy Scorpion
Of course, there are hundreds of other types of scorpions which all couldn’t be listed here.
Uses of Scorpion Venom
While the main uses are in the medical field, followings are the uses (or, possible uses) of Scorpion Venom:
- For the treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis
- For the treatment of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
- Can kill staph and tuberculosis bacteria
- For Cancer-related researches
- Can help detect the brain tumours
- Can also be used as a painkiller
- Helps prevent organ rejection during transplant
- Could lead to completely new antibiotics
In Turkey, scorpion venom has been used to make anti-venom serums since the 1940s. One particular species, Androctonus crassicauda, or the “Arabian fat-tailed scorpion”, has been shown to be effective against its own venom, but also that of some other species too.
The venom from this particular scorpion can be pretty nasty with symptoms of exposure ranging from severe pain at the site of injection, to potential heart and respiratory failure from the venom’s neurotoxins and cardiotoxins. For this reason, a reliable anti-venom is a must in areas of the world where this nocturnal hunter roams.
The antivenom is usually derived from immunizing horses with either crushed scorpion telsons, the nasty bit at the end with the stinger, or, more recently, milked venom from farm-bred scorpions.
But, you might ask, how on Earth do you actually milk a scorpion? Well, let’s find out, shall we?
Step 1: Get some scorpions
Androctonus crassicaudan is a native scorpion to the Middle East including certain areas of Turkey. In areas like Turkey, the scorpion can often be found in ruins of old, neglected buildings, or on the margins of deserts.
The scorpions can either be caught in the wild or more efficiently, bred in special farms. These usually consist of large plastic box “tanks” where scorpions are fed and watered especially for the purposes of milking for venom. Each scorpion is kept in isolation (as they are very aggressive and territorial) and, of course, sealed inside with a sealable lid.
Many such companies who specialize in this industry, will release any excess scorpions into the wild when they have more than they need.
Step 2: Select your scorpion for milking
When milking times come, the records of each scorpion are reviewed to ensure enough time has elapsed for them to have replenished their venom stocks. Once viable scorpions have been identified, they are selected from their storage racks and taken, carefully, to the milking laboratory.
scorpion milking farmThe scorpions are kept in plastic boxes in the lab’s “farm”. Source: Interesting Engineering
Once scorpions have been moved to the milking lab, the process of extracting the scorpion’s potent venom can begin.
Step 3: Milking a scorpion
Each scorpion’s containment box is provided to a milking technician who carefully removes the lid of the box. Once done, a pair of special tongs are used to delicately capture and pin the scorpion in place.
Scorpions are held firmly enough to hold them in place, but gently enough as to not harm them unduly. While the scorpions are, quite understandably, pretty annoyed at being held like this, they are not harmed.
The tools used by the milking technicians are particularly long to prevent accidental injection of venom into the human technician. This would really ruin their day!
The scorpions are then held over a refrigerator container with chilled vials ready to receive the venom once extracted. Each scorpion is then held in place so that its stinger is directly above the vial.
A special electrical probe is then used to induce the scorpion to release its venom. The venom is injected from its stinger, as normal, and then allowed to drip into the vial.
Every last drop of venom is extracted and the stinger is gently scraped against the rim of the vial to maximize the amount of venom extraction possible. Yields do vary depending on the age, size, and sex of the scorpion, but, on average, each scorpion can produce about 0.5mg per session.
For this reason, it takes quite a few scorpions to produce enough venom to fill one vial. Once a single scorpion has been “exhausted”, the process is repeated with the next, and then the next, until the vial has reached a certain volume of venom.
scorpion milking 1This scorpion is pretty angry, but it’s not being harmed. Source: Interesting Engineering
The process does, admittedly, look a little cruel, especially with the scorpions clearly showing signs of distress, but they are not harmed during the process.
Step 4: The venom is ready to be sent off for antivenom production
Once a vial is filled, each is labeled with its volume and ID number and placed in a storage container ready for packaging. Once processed, the contents of each vial are then transferred to more permanent, and sterile glass vials before being sealed and packaged.
The vials of scorpion venom are then ready to be sent on to the ultimate client to process into whatever end product they are intended for – in most cases anti-venom.
Source- https://interestingengineering.com/video/milk-scorpion-venom
MILKING A SCORPION IS NOT easy. The arachnid may not feel terribly cooperative when you deliver tiny electric shocks and then capture the venom that emerges from its stinger. You need to avoid shocking yourself, for sure, and, depending on the species, the venom can potentially kill you. It’s a lot of work and sometimes requires two people for very little payoff—just a tiny amount of venom for medical research. But if milking scorpions happens to be your day job, your days could be about to get a whole lot easier.
The VES-4 robot was developed by a team of researchers from Ben M’sik Hassan II University in Morocco, and it is a lot safer than current methods. The machine holds the scorpion’s tail in place while delivering electric shocks to stimulate venom production. It collects and stores the venom, too. The shocks don’t hurt the scorpion, and the procedure saves them from having to have their venom glands removed for the extraction.
A safer method for obtaining scorpion venom is a big deal for medicine. Venom from the deathstalker scorpion, found in Africa and Asia, for example, is being used to highlight brain cancer cells so surgeons can remove them. Another scorpion, found in Mexico, produces venom that contains an immunosuppressant that could one day be used to treat autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis. Now scientists can focus on finding uses for venom, instead of worrying about how they’ll get more safely
NB- Both snake venom farming and scorpion venom farming are illegal in India. The laws vary from state to state as the clauses defined with animal, bird and reptile classes are different from state to state. The first point of contact to obtain any exemptions would be the state forest department. Once full permissions are obtained from the state forest department, one can extract the venom. However, most laws do not allow for keeping the reptiles for long periods. For example, Irula Snake Society under Madras Crocodile Trust has permission for venom extraction but they can only keep the reptiles in captivity for a month and then should release them into the wild.
Several attempts have been made by many organizations to convince the governments to allow for venom extraction. However, lack of enough funding to go through the legal system has put a tight cap on such ventures. There’s an exception in the state of Maharashtra where one can extract venom indefinitely from the snakes that venture into human habitats. It’d be however illegal to capture and bring snakes into human habitats which would vastly impact the profitability of the venom extraction.
IMAGE COURTESY-DAILY SABAH
