Worth the sting: Cuba's scorpion pain remedy
https://www.yahoo.com/news/worth-sting-cubas-scorpion-pain-remedy-184333370.html
HAVANA (Reuters) - Once a month for the last decade, Pepe Casanas, a 78-year-old Cuban farmer, has hunted down a scorpion to sting himself with, vowing that the venom wards off his rheumatism pains.
His natural remedy is no longer seen as very unusual here.
Researchers in Cuba have found that the venom of the blue scorpion, whose scientific name is Rhopalurus junceus, endemic to the Caribbean island, appears to have anti-inflammatory and pain relief properties, and may be able to delay tumor growth in some cancer patients.
While some oncologists abroad say more research is needed to be able to properly back up such a claim, Cuban pharmaceutical firm Labiofam has been using scorpion venom since 2011 to manufacture the homeopathic medicine Vidatox.
The remedy has proven popular.
キューバの研究者はカリブ諸国に生息するサソリの毒に痛み止めの効果や抗炎症の効果があり、さらにはある種の癌の成長を遅らせる効果があるかもしれないことを発見したとのこと。2011年からこのサソリの毒をつかった薬、Vidatoxが製造されており、人気がでているらしい。
Amazon.comでもうっていた。
In a Labiofam laboratory in the southern Cuban city of Cienfuegos, workers dressed in scrubs and hairnets tend to nearly 6,000 scorpions housed in plastic containers lined up on rows of metal racks.
Every few days they feed and water the arachnids that sit on a bed of small stones. Once a month, they apply an 18V electrical jolt to their tails using a handcrafted machine in order to trigger the release of a few drops of venom.
The venom is then diluted with distilled water and shaken vigorously, which homeopathic practitioners believe activates its "vital energy."
The scorpions are caught in the wild as Labiofam workers believe their venom - which is not dangerous - is not as potent when raised in captivity.
After two years of exploitation in the "escorpionario," they are released back into the wild.
この薬の製造会社Labiofamでは、野生のサソリを捕まえてそれを飼育しているが、月に一回18ボルトの電気ショックを与えて毒を出させる。二年間にわたって毒を搾り取られたあとサソリ自然に返されるとのこと。
こちらの動画では毒を搾り取られている様子をみることができる。