
Scientists are racing to create a cure for COVID-19, but the toll on sharks might be irreparable. Conservationists estimate that half a million of the predators may be killed to supply the world with a coronavirus vaccine when one is developed.
Shark liver oil is primarily made of squalene, which helps regulate a shark's buoyancy in deep water. The compound is also found in plants, humans and other animals. Used as a moisturizing agent in cosmetics, squalene also creates a stronger immune response in vaccines, making them more effective, reported Science Times.
Squalene has been used in flu vaccines since 1997, Boston 25 News reported, and has an "excellent safety record" according to the CDC, Miami Herald reported. It could also help reduce the amount of vaccine needed per person, the Boston news report said.
Shark Allies, an advocacy group fighting against shark overfishing, claims that five COVID-19 vaccine candidates use shark squalene; the California-based non-profit is petitioning the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Europe, China and all vaccine developers to omit the compound or find an alternative that doesn't require sharks.
One British pharmaceutical that currently uses shark squalene in flu vaccines plans to manufacture a billion doses of the compound for potential use in coronavirus vaccines by May 2021, Sky News reported. VICE reported that roughly 3,000 sharks have to die to extract a single tonne of squalene.
"It's called harvesting, but really you're not growing it, you're taking it from the wild," Stefanie Brendl, executive director of Shark Allies, told Boston 25 News. "It's a limited resource."
Shark Allies worries that the development and production of enough vaccines to create worldwide immunization to the novel coronavirus and future coronaviruses that are identified could carry "an immense ecological cost," VICE reported.
"It's something we need to get ahead of ASAP, because we are facing many years of vaccine production, for a global population, for many more coronavirus vaccines to come," Brendl told VICE. "The real danger is in what this can turn into in the future. A reliance on shark oil for a global vaccine — it's truly insane. A wild animal is not a reliable source and cannot sustain ongoing commercial pressure. [And] the overfishing of sharks globally is already at critical levels."
The conservationists fear that a global vaccine using shark squalene will endanger most shark species and could potentially wipe out some more threatened species, Miami Herald reported. Shark populations are vulnerable because they reproduce in low numbers and are slow to mature. According to VICE, great whites, hammerheads and whale sharks are among those most often targeted for their livers. According to Oceana, deep-sea sharks are especially vulnerable because their livers contain more squalene than other species as it helps them adapt to their environment, reported Miami Herald.
"We're not trying to take anything away from humanity and say don't cure yourself, don't create a vaccine," Brendl told Boston 25 News. "What we're saying is the alternative is already there."
In a popular online campaign, Shark Allies outlined the non-shark alternatives for squalene already in existence. Plant-based oils can be harvested from things like yeast, wheat germ, sugarcane and olive oil, VICE and Miami Herald reported. Bacteria-created squalene has also been researched, the petition noted. The problem with these alternatives is that they are about 30% more expensive and harder to extract than shark-based squalene, Miami Herald reported.
A team of researchers in Poland who were working on a plant-based squalene alternative in 2013 stressed in their report that "in the interest of protecting biodiversity, raw materials of animal origin must be replaced by alternative sources that respect our environment."
Shark Allies also noted that there are coronavirus vaccines in development that do not require squalene at all and encouraged the development of those alternatives.
- Sharks Are Vanishing From Many of the World's Reefs - EcoWatch ›
- Sharks: Imperiled, Maligned, Fascinating - EcoWatch ›
- How to Protect Sharks From Overfishing - EcoWatch ›
- Coronavirus: Can We Trust Recent COVID Vaccine Successes? - EcoWatch ›
- Baby Megalodon Sharks Were Six-Foot-Long Cannibals, Study Finds ›
- Shark and Ray Populations Declining Rapidly, Scientists Call for Urgent Fishing Limits - EcoWatch ›
- Antarctica Wildlife May Be Impacted by COVID-19 ›
At first glance, you wouldn't think avocados and almonds could harm bees; but a closer look at how these popular crops are produced reveals their potentially detrimental effect on pollinators.
Migratory beekeeping involves trucking millions of bees across the U.S. to pollinate different crops, including avocados and almonds. Timothy Paule II / Pexels / CC0
<p>According to <a href="https://www.fromthegrapevine.com/israeli-kitchen/beekeeping-how-to-keep-bees" target="_blank">From the Grapevine</a>, American avocados also fully depend on bees' pollination to produce fruit, so farmers have turned to migratory beekeeping as well to fill the void left by wild populations.</p><p>U.S. farmers have become reliant upon the practice, but migratory beekeeping has been called exploitative and harmful to bees. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/10/health/avocado-almond-vegan-partner/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported that commercial beekeeping may injure or kill bees and that transporting them to pollinate crops appears to negatively affect their health and lifespan. Because the honeybees are forced to gather pollen and nectar from a single, monoculture crop — the one they've been brought in to pollinate — they are deprived of their normal diet, which is more diverse and nourishing as it's comprised of a variety of pollens and nectars, Scientific American reported.</p><p>Scientific American added how getting shuttled from crop to crop and field to field across the country boomerangs the bees between feast and famine, especially once the blooms they were brought in to fertilize end.</p><p>Plus, the artificial mass influx of bees guarantees spreading viruses, mites and fungi between the insects as they collide in midair and crawl over each other in their hives, Scientific American reported. According to CNN, some researchers argue that this explains why so many bees die each winter, and even why entire hives suddenly die off in a phenomenon called colony collapse disorder.</p>Avocado and almond crops depend on bees for proper pollination. FRANK MERIÑO / Pexels / CC0
<p>Salazar and other Columbian beekeepers described "scooping up piles of dead bees" year after year since the avocado and citrus booms began, according to Phys.org. Many have opted to salvage what partial colonies survive and move away from agricultural areas.</p><p>The future of pollinators and the crops they help create is uncertain. According to the United Nations, nearly half of insect pollinators, particularly bees and butterflies, risk global extinction, Phys.org reported. Their decline already has cascading consequences for the economy and beyond. Roughly 1.4 billion jobs and three-quarters of all crops around the world depend on bees and other pollinators for free fertilization services worth billions of dollars, Phys.org noted. Losing wild and native bees could <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/wild-bees-crop-shortage-2646849232.html" target="_self">trigger food security issues</a>.</p><p>Salazar, the beekeeper, warned Phys.org, "The bee is a bioindicator. If bees are dying, what other insects beneficial to the environment... are dying?"</p>EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
Australia is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. It is home to more than 7% of all the world's plant and animal species, many of which are endemic. One such species, the Pharohylaeus lactiferus bee, was recently rediscovered after spending nearly 100 years out of sight from humans.
Trending
Scientists have newly photographed three species of shark that can glow in the dark, according to a study published in Frontiers in Marine Science last month.
- 10 Little-Known Shark Facts - EcoWatch ›
- 4 New Walking Shark Species Discovered - EcoWatch ›
- 5 Incredible Species That Glow in the Dark - EcoWatch ›
FedEx's entire parcel pickup and delivery fleet will become 100 percent electric by 2040, according to a statement released Wednesday. The ambitious plan includes checkpoints, such as aiming for 50 percent electric vehicles by 2025.
Lockdown measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic had the added benefit of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by around seven percent, or 2.6 billion metric tons, in 2020.
- Which Is Worse for the Planet: Beef or Cars? - EcoWatch ›
- Greenhouse Gas Levels Hit Record High Despite Lockdowns, UN ... ›
- 1.8 Billion Tons More Greenhouse Gases Will Be Released, Thanks ... ›