ShawnNov 28, 2022
Sheril Kirshenbaum

If you ever had a vaccine, injection or surgery, you’re indebted to the ancient & wondrous horseshoe crab.

Its blue blood contains Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) which clumps at contact with bacterial toxins. Animals are caught for their blood to test sterility of medical equipment & injections.

Unfortunately the harvest is unsustainable & populations are in decline. An effective synthetic substitute has been around for 2 decades & we just need the biomedical industry to switch. #SharedPlanet

Nov 28, 2022 at 10:23amMetatext
Show threadgeekgirl Nov 28, 2022
@Sheril wow that's cruel
Show threadMark MifsudNov 28, 2022

@Sheril

Sad 😞

Show threadSheril KirshenbaumNov 28, 2022
@MarkMifsud I agree. But we can do something about it by collectively asking the biomedical industry to use the synthetic alternative.
Show threadMark MifsudNov 28, 2022

@Sheril

I'm inclined to ask:
1) what's holding back the migration to the alternative?

2) What can be done about it?

Is it expensive, just to make money on a patent? Is it hard to manufacture? Is catching crabs just cheaper?

Show threadDorean PaxoralesNov 28, 2022
@MarkMifsud @Sheril the existence of a patent was a factor, but this has expired in 2018.
Show threadAlan VolnyNov 28, 2022

@MarkMifsud @Sheril

My understanding is that biomedical companies don't want to take ANY risk - horseshoe crab blood is known 100% to work, cannot be a legal liability, and is available. Biomed companies therefore just don't see any reason to switch.

Show threadLouis J. Mason (They/He 🏳️‍⚧️)Nov 28, 2022
@AssortedFern @MarkMifsud @Sheril
But if it isn’t sustainable, they’re going to have to switch anyway. This is more about capitalism than anything else.
Show threadLouis J. Mason (They/He 🏳️‍⚧️)Nov 28, 2022
@Sheril @MarkMifsud So what can we do? What’s the first step to stop horseshoe crabs from going extinct? We don’t need any more animals going extinct.
Show threadVashDec 1, 2022
@Sheril @MarkMifsud Is there any company specifically we should contact? Or alternatively, should we contact our congressional reps about maybe adding some regulation of this to the farm bill to encourage a switch?
Show threadTen Pound AuspolNov 28, 2022
@Sheril Humans really are the worst. Sure, we have a synthetic chemical to do this, but hey, let's just kill another animal and harvest their blood to achieve exactly the same thing.
Show threadDavid HoNov 28, 2022
@Sheril They're prehistoric, with a fossil record going back ~480 million years. 😔
Show threadSheril KirshenbaumNov 28, 2022

@davidho at least.

Horseshoe crabs were the first species I wrote a management plan for in Massachusetts for the Audubon society and The Nature Conservancy.

Show threadDavid HoNov 29, 2022
@Sheril wow, what was the plan? I feel like they’re a link to the past and it’s always such a privilege to see them.
Show threadSheril KirshenbaumNov 29, 2022

@davidho Horseshoe crabs are truly amazing animals and that experience was one reason I became a marine biologist.

I'm not sure the management plan I wrote did much to protect the species. It was around 2000 or 2001, and populations aren't exactly recovering. But I hope more people are becoming aware of the problem and willing to speak out to protect them.

Show threadDaniel Myat Lin KyawNov 28, 2022
@Sheril Interesting.
Show threadMargaretMacNov 28, 2022
@Sheril That's horrendous especially now that there is an alternative. What's stopping them from making that change? 😕
Show threadSheril KirshenbaumNov 28, 2022
@scotsoma no pressure to change?
Show threadMargaretMacNov 28, 2022
@Sheril Terrible. Defenceless creatures treated as expendable for no other reason than just because they can. 😠
Show threadThijsNov 28, 2022
@Sheril Reminds me that Radiolab once did a podcast on this: https://radiolab.org/episodes/baby-blue-blood-drive
Baby Blue Blood Drive

Horseshoe crabs harbor a half-billion-year-old secret: a superpower that helped them outlive the dinosaurs. But it hasn’t just been saving their butts, it’s been saving ours too.

Radiolab Podcasts | WNYC Studios
Show threadMs. Liberty1978Nov 28, 2022
@Sheril with pollution&denial from the GOP doesn't help. Free literature or improving our education system is a challenge.
Show threadRaoul DukeNov 28, 2022
@Sheril
My favorite band, Clutch, has a song about them!
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=1mRs7b0t1Ak&feature=share
Slaughter Beach - YouTube Music

Provided to YouTube by The Orchard Enterprises Slaughter Beach · Clutch · Neil Fallon · Jean-Paul Gaster · Dan Maines · Tim Sult Sunrise on Slaughter Beach...

YouTube Music
Show threadLouis J. Mason (They/He 🏳️‍⚧️)Nov 28, 2022
@Sheril Oh, this is messed up. Serious messed up. You mean to tell me there wasn’t another way for medical industry to create such products without harming animals?
Show threadMasterfullyLonelyNov 28, 2022
@Sheril listened to the Radiolab episode on this. Super interesting and sad. One thing this does is prevent the crabs from being harvested as chum by fishermen, which was being done before the blood protein was known about. They are caught, blood is collected, they are cleaned, screened, snacked and returned to the ocean. They are worth way more alive.
Show threadKoraNov 28, 2022
@Sheril I wonder what the synthetic alternative is – is there a reason why it's not been adopted more widely? The horseshoe crabs milking doesn't strike like the most efficient of processes (not mentioning the unsustainability and cruelty pointed out by others). What could possibly be a reason to continue in this vein? 🤯
Show threadSheril KirshenbaumNov 28, 2022
@qornik no pressure to make a change
Show threadKoraDec 1, 2022
@Sheril what do you propose to start with? a petition to ban it? Or some sort of open letter?
Show threadSheril KirshenbaumDec 1, 2022
@qornik Lots of people, writing, speaking, and taking action in all sorts of ways creates change.
Show threadEithne70Nov 28, 2022
@Sheril
As a vegan the use of horseshoe crab blood means every single medical event is unethical. I do get vaccinations (I work in healthcare & treat vulnerable people, I stand with herd immunity) but it makes me feel uneasy for weeks before and afterwards.
Show threadTsumami Nov 28, 2022
@Sheril I’ve always been creeped out by them in the waters where I live but now I’m so sad ☹️
Show threadRetiredGuyNov 28, 2022
@Sheril This is terrible. I was aware of the horseshoe crab/LAL, but wholly unaware an effective synthetic substitute has been available for 2 decades.
Show threadHippieNov 28, 2022
@Sheril are they doing it in the basement of Comet Ping Pong?
Show threadRoushamnetNov 28, 2022
@Sheril High time the synthetic is adopted!! Is it more expensive?
Show threadbateendje ✔️Nov 28, 2022
@Sheril this is horrible. Where is this allowed? @greenpeace @Wwf @wwf
Show threadRachel Kay (Tala) #pwMENov 28, 2022

@Sheril I'm from Delaware, which is where horseshoe crabs like to mate. Sometimes they get turned over and can't flip back to return to the ocean. I'm almost 40, and even as a child, I was taught a) not to fear the weird-looking sea creatures, and b) to gently flip them over and point them toward the water.

Delawareans love horseshoe crabs 🦀

Show threadhannsfNov 28, 2022
@Sheril Humans are capable of monstrous evil. The religious doctrine of human dominion has enslaved countless sentient beings to our service
Show threadFord EytouNov 28, 2022
@Sheril #crab #matrix 👾 💻 🦀
Show threadJason NickelNov 28, 2022
@Sheril this is horrible...
Show threadKlottieNov 28, 2022
@Sheril Poor crabs an ignominious end. I doubt Pharma care.
Show threadAllison PonsNov 29, 2022
@Sheril This makes me sad!!!
Show threadPeta MortonNov 29, 2022
@Sheril Wow. I had no idea. What on earth is wrong with the human race?
Show threadfurukamaNov 29, 2022
@Sheril I feel a strong William S. Burroughs vibe here … #interzone
Show threadJacky TweedieNov 29, 2022

@Sheril Thanks for bringing this issue forward again...needs all the boosts it can get to begin to have a chance to inform policy making.

Glargh on the slowness of public olicy making.

Show threadCatherine McCarthyDec 1, 2022
@Sheril Images of horseshoe crabs being bloodletted like this sadden me. I’m assuming they perish in this process…perhaps I’m incorrect. We used to watch them scoot along the translucent shoreline in our local river. Am very grateful for their significant contribution to human healthcare, and hope that one day soon a substitute for their blood can be found.
Show threadSuNov 15, 2023
@Sheril Cruel beyond belief.