There is a moment every female-bodied tween dreads- the day your sporadic, temperamental period comes early and you’ve forgotten your pad. You’re stuck in the bathroom stall on a muggy summer afternoon in the middle of French and you know your only option is to stuff toilet paper into your panties and say a prayer. After class you’ll have to ask around to see if anyone will let you have one of their pads, but you’ll still have to sit in class for what feels like millenia, dreading any of several incriminating stains that could seep through. In school. In front of everyone. Blazed into your memory. After waddling back to class cautiously, precariously sitting yourself back down, you grab your pen and look up, trying to focus, but you can’t. Your mind is conjuring up a bloody red menagerie of worst-possible-scenarios, and now you’re starting to feel some cramps too. How do you say ‘to be on your period’ in French anyway?

Well it’s avoir ses règles, and for many menstruating people worldwide, a lack of adequate supplies to handle menstruation safely has led to what we now call period poverty. In fact, period poverty is considered a global health crisis. 

Let’s take a step back though, because the word ‘period’ makes sense and so does ‘poverty’, but when the two are put together it starts to get a bit confusing. Truth be told, many definitions are circulating, some which center around being able to financially afford menstrual products, others with focus on access, education or awareness. In reality, period poverty counts as all of these. The definition I found to be most aligned with this all-encompassing definition is the one on Medical News Today, which states that “period poverty is a lack of access to menstrual products, education, hygiene facilities, waste management, or a combination of these”.

Now while that sounds like a definite issue, what elevates it to the status of a global health crisis? In short, why should you care? Perhaps you’re even reading this as someone who has never menstruated or never will. 

cottonbro studio. Pexels, www.pexels.com/photo/sanitary-pad-on-white-background-3926751/. Accessed 18 Jan. 2023.

If you’re a proponent of utilitarianism and appreciate a bit of hedonic calculus, join me as we crunch some numbers: There are about 8 billion people on this planet. According once again to Medical News Today, 500 million people who menstruate lack access to menstrual products and hygiene facilities. That’s about 6.25% of the global population having several days of discomfort on a monthly basis due to lacking access to menstrual products and hygiene facilities. If every person on the planet were a grain of sand, all 8 billion of us put together would weigh as much as a grand piano. If you were to take all 500 million of the people lacking menstrual products and hygiene facilities, they would weigh as much as three full size watermelons. Now let’s say you took the estimated 16.9 million people who menstruate living in poverty in the U.S. alone. If they were all grains of sand and you put them together, it would weigh as much as an iPad. In fact, a 2021 study found that almost two-thirds of women in the U.S. with a low income could not afford menstrual products in the last year, while nearly half sometimes had to choose between buying food or menstrual products. 

This kind of constant stress at the back of someone’s mind every month for several days can prevent them from participating in their education or careers, which has significant economic implications for their ability to financially support themselves and their families, as well as their participation in the wider economy. 

Undoubtedly, this is a concern from the very first time a young person gets their period. One widely-quoted statistic is that one out of every ten African girls misses school due to menstruation, although there is admittedly much difficulty in measuring absences and the reasons for them. That said, poor school attainment nevertheless “reduces girls’ economic potential over her life course, impacts population health outcomes; which extends to girls’ sexual and reproductive health outcomes, self-esteem, and sense of control”.

The impacts of this also affect women already in the workforce. According to the University of Leeds Nuffield Centre for International Health and Development’s 2019 report, results from a pilot menstrual health intervention by Business for Social Responsibility’s (BSR) HER project show that 73% of women working in factories in Bangladesh missed work for an average six days a month. When the HER project provided pads and a behavior change work-based intervention, absenteeism dropped to 3%.

Vaitkevich, Nataliya. Pexels, www.pexels.com/photo/red-and-white-heart-decors-5712294/. Accessed 18 Jan. 2023.

With that in mind, we can imagine what it would look like to eradicate period poverty. In this ideal world, where menstrual health is neither stigmatized nor out of reach, people would have access to information about menstruation, life changes, and hygiene practices. They would be able to take care of themselves during menstruation. They’d have access to water, sanitation, and healthcare, the ability to receive a diagnosis for menstrual cycle disorders, a positive and supportive environment in which to make decisions, and the empowerment necessary to participate in all aspects of life, such as going to work, school, and anywhere else.

The tricky thing is how to get there. Of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals, I could think of at least nine which tie into the trials and tribulations of period poverty, indicating that there is definitely a need for a solution. 

Below I’ve mentioned which ones I saw an immediate connection to and their number on the list of the seventeen total SDGs:

• 3. Good Health & Wellbeing
• 4. Quality Education
• 5. Gender Equality
• 6. Clean Water & Sanitation
• 8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
• 10. Reduced Inequalities
• 12. Responsible Consumption and Production
• 13. Climate Action
• 16. Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions

So we’ve established that period poverty is a problem for everyone and that it’s necessary to overcome it in order to create a sustainable future. However, it’s a complicated quagmire of socioeconomic, cultural, biological, and anthropological factors that take creativity and collaboration to tackle. I can’t do it all by myself and nor can you, but we can make a start with a few simple steps and creative ideas. 

One way to deconstruct the stigma behind menstruation is through art. Through art we open ourselves up to bold curiosity; Through curiosity we open the door to normalization. As Dr. Jen Gunter, an outspoken gynecologist and science communicator says, “It shouldn’t be an act of feminism to know how your body works.” This attitude has been reflected by several artists already, such as Vanessa Tiegs, who creates menstralas to spread awareness about menstrual health; Sarah Naqvi, who uses embroidery to depict menstrual blood; or Rupi Kaur, whose controversial photograph of a woman with a menstrual blood stain was once temporarily removed from Instagram. 

Another way to approach period poverty is by diving into the marriage between material science and menstruation, a marriage involving menstrual cups, tampons, pads, and the environment which sits on the receiving end of all we dispose of. By understanding how best to balance comfort, finance, women’s health, the environment, and the other forces at play, we can prevent women from having to make unjust sacrifices. 

No one should have to choose between buying tampons or food. No one should have to compromise their career or education because they can’t access menstrual products. No one should have to feel ashamed of the way their body functions. No one should have to worry about whether they can make it twenty hours with the same pad. So now it’s the job of you and me, dear reader, to address the neglected global health crisis of period poverty one word at a time. 

Thought to Action 

1. Education: Investigate further about how to how to support menstruators and decrease the stigma relating to menstruation by:
   1. Asking questions & starting conversations about menstruation, menopause, period poverty, and bodily shame.
2. Consumption: If you menstruate, you can opt for products that are kind to the environment and kind to your body.
3. National Advocacy: Menstruators need the support of their government to provide the appropriate infrastructure and access to hygienic menstrual products. Protective legislation can ensure that everyone who menstruates receives this, while reducing taxes on menstrual products, making them available to all who need them. Check out this petition to end period poverty in the U.S.:https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/sign-now-end-period-poverty
4. Language: How we talk about issues like period poverty affects the way we think about them. Update some of your basic linguistic habits to remove the stigma around menstruation by checking out this link. 
5. Advertising: Inform businesses of how their advertising might promote bodily shame. Watch some of these empowering new ad campaigns that challenge toxic beauty standards.
   1. Dove’s #MyBeautyMySay
   2. Always’s #LikeAGirl
6. Legislation: Protective legislation can ensure affordable access to proper facilities and menstrual hygiene products. Governments can also reduce taxes on menstrual products, making them more affordable.

Sources

“E nānā mau i nā kumu,” is Hawaiian for “Always check your sources.”

Action Aid. “Period Poverty.” ActionAid UK, 2021, www.actionaid.org.uk/our-work/womens-rights/period-poverty. Accessed 18 Jan. 2023.

Bodyform. “What Is Period Poverty? | Bodyform.” Bodyform.co.uk, Bodyform, 20 Sept. 2018, www.bodyform.co.uk/our-world/period-poverty/. Accessed 18 Jan. 2023.

Brooksbank, Kate. “Period Poverty: One in Eight Likely to Struggle to Afford Sanitary Products They Need in next Year | YouGov.” Yougov.co.uk, 14 Sept. 2022, yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2022/09/14/period-poverty-one-eight-likely-struggle-afford-sa. Accessed 18 Jan. 2023.

geng. “What Is Period Poverty?” Www.medicalnewstoday.com, 16 Sept. 2021, www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/period-poverty#what-is-it.

Hampton, Janie. “Call a Period a Period: Exploring the Language and Knowledge of Menstruation.” Sanitation Learning Hub, 27 May 2021, sanitationlearninghub.org/2021/05/27/call-a-period-a-period-exploring-the-language-and-knowledge-of-menstruation/. Accessed 18 Jan. 2023.

Menstrual Health Coalition. “Menstrual Health Coalition.” Menstrual Health Coalition, www.menstrualhealthcoalition.com/. Accessed 18 Jan. 2023.

Periods Matter. “Period Poverty – the Facts.” Periods Matter, www.periodsmatter.co.uk/period-poverty-the-facts. Accessed 18 Jan. 2023.

Sedghi, Amy. “14 Best Sustainable Period Products, Reviewed.” The Independent, 6 Aug. 2021, www.independent.co.uk/extras/indybest/fashion-beauty/best-sustainable-period-products-uk-review-b1821265.html. Accessed 18 Jan. 2023.

Unicef. “Menstrual Hygiene.” Unicef.org, 2020, www.unicef.org/wash/menstrual-hygiene. Accessed 18 Jan. 2023.

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After defending the bad press snakes get in Western culture and highlighting the potential their venom offers the field of medicine, I was struck by a dagger of guilt. More than 220,000 species- or approximately 15% of all animal diversity on earth – are venomous. What about their potential in medicine? I decided I couldn’t possibly move on from the topic of venom without giving a shoutout to the fascinating array of cone snails, spiders, scorpions, and other species that seldom get the spotlight they deserve. This guilt weighed me down heavily as I wondered with great futility how to resolve this moral conundrum. That’s when I came across Adam Roy’s article for the magazine Outside, Keep Your Bird-Watching- I’m a Spider Man. It was clear after reading it that my next venomous protagonists would be scorpions and spiders, both arachnids, which are members of the arthropod group and Arachnida class. 

Anon, (n.d.). [Online Image] Pixabay. Available at: https://www.pexels.com/photo/animal-arachnid-close-up-creepy-219959/ [Accessed 9 Dec. 2022].

To paint the picture, I think it’s helpful to get to know the stars of the show. If you aren’t too clear on what constitutes the Arachnida class, according to Britannica, they have segmented bodies, tough exoskeletons, and jointed appendages. Most are predatory and almost all of them lack jaws.This is because instead, they inject digestive fluids into their prey before sucking out the liquefied remains into their mouths. 

(Sidenote: That might send a shiver down your spine, but please don’t go out killing spiders. They are important members of the ecosystem in your home, your garden, and the wild. In fact, they even act as a form of biological pest control for not only flies, but also disease-carrying insects, like cockroaches or mosquitos.)

Scorpions, on the other hand, only use their venom defensively, so as long as you don’t provoke them, you should be safe. They are otherwise fascinating creatures for so many reasons, for example because they glow in the dark for reasons scientists still debate, and have extremely low metabolic rates, allowing them to survive with one tenth the oxygen of other insects. 

G., S. (n.d.). [Online Image] Pexels. Available at: https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-and-brown-insect-with-pincers-1981542/ [Accessed 9 Dec. 2022].

But apart from being absolutely mind-boggling little critters, spiders and scorpions have added to their repertoire in recent years. Their venom, as it turns out, could help treat conditions like chronic pain and cancer. The big question is why. Why can venom, which is so painful when you’ve just been stung by a scorpion, snake, or spider, be used to alleviate pain at the same time? This contradiction is what enticed me at first, and perhaps it’s also what entices you. 

The reason venom can accomplish so much biochemically is because it contains such a large variety of peptides, each targeting a unique type of pore on the cell surface. These targets are called ion channels, and they control the flow of ions across cell membranes, shaping the electrical signals which are the stars behind muscle contraction and relaxation, blood pressure, neuronal signaling, neurotransmitter release, hormone secretion, and ensuring electrolyte balance.

Specifically when it comes to chronic pain, Medical News Today suggests that past studies have found that one of the most common pathways involved is Nav1.7, which is a sodium ion channel. By blocking this channel as some venoms do, researchers predict that the pathways controlling pain will basically be turned off. According to Professor Glenn King of the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at The University of Queensland in Australia, a researcher in this study, “Previous research shows indifference to pain among people who lack Nav1.7 channels due to a naturally-occurring genetic mutation – so blocking these channels has the potential to turning off pain in people with normal pain pathways.”

Another application I mentioned was cancer, in which venom can be used as “tumor paint”, first developed by Dr. Jim Olsen. This would involve using the chlorotoxin peptide found in deathstalker scorpion venom to stick to cancer cells in the patient’s bloodstream alongside a dye which is fluorescent under laser light. This chlorotoxin peptide binds to glioma cells, a type of tumor found in the brain and spinal cord, and blocks chloride channels. This would allow a surgeon to clearly identify the type of cancer and which tissue is cancerous versus normal. Amazingly, this isn’t just a nice idea tossed around in the ether. The FDA has already approved this venom-based tumor paint for use in brain tumor clinical trials. 

Mind-boggling, right? And these are only a few examples! Other peptides with therapeutic potential are margatoxin, ω-CVID, α-GID, μ-PIIIA, ShK, χ-MrIB, and GsMTx4, which you can read up more on by using the sources at the bottom of this post. 

That said, one difficulty to synthesizing these medical tools is that such a small proportion of venom has actually been discovered. Dr. Julie Kaae Klint, a member of the Institute for Molecular Bioscience and another author from King’s study on applying venom to chronic pain, estimates that there are roughly 9 million spider-venom peptides and only 0.01% have been explored so far. Let’s just stop to think about this. Imagine you drew a line half the length of the Grand Canyon or about two times as wide as the English Channel. For every inch of this line, there is a unique spider-venom peptide out there. Now imagine a line only the length of two and a half London buses. For every inch of this line, there is one spider-venom peptide that has been discovered. That still leaves almost 9 million spider-venom peptides that have not been explored. What will we find when we do?

Willinger, M. (n.d.). [Online Image] Pexels. Available at: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-photo-of-spider-3482977/ [Accessed 9 Dec. 2022].

On that note, there’s another challenge to synthesizing venom-based drugs- and that is how to actually identify the peptides that we can put to use. In a paper published online on February 11 2014 in Current Biology, a team of researchers led by Michael Nitabach, Yale Medical School, New Haven, US, described a “new approach to identifying novel peptide toxins, a method that could bolster the design of new drugs targeting ion channels”. This method has a name that I love, mostly because you can’t find it in the dictionary. It’s toxineering. 

This is essentially a method of screening all the different molecules in venom to find the ones that do the job you want. You can think of it as LinkedIn for venom, scrolling through the properties of each molecule until you find just the right candidate who will (1) bind and who will (2) bind to the receptor you want it to. In the Nitabach’s Yale study, researchers were specifically looking for a molecule to bind to the TRPA1 receptor and as a result of combing through their t-toxin library using toxineering, found the ProTx-I peptide which is now used for several clinical applications. 

This is very promising, but as always, there remains vast uncharted territory in the field of venomics and toxineering, and arachnid and snake venoms are not the only types to hold promise. There are also fascinating developments in the venoms of animals like komodo dragons, which have applications in treating strokes, heart attacks and pulmonary embolisms, and northern short-tailed shrews, whose venom is being used to explore cancer treatment. All in all, it is a field overflowing with questions, innovation, and potential. What will we find in the daunting ocean of undiscovered peptides? How will the medical industry work with nature to benefit human health? Who will brave the unknown in order to finally answer these questions for the world?

Thought to Action 

1. For free, switch your search browser to Ecosia, the search engine which uses the profits produced from your searches to plant trees where they are needed most. Ecosia is currently using its profits to plant trees all around the world, a mission which supports biodiversity, helps to fight climate change, and gives you the chance to make a real difference. 
2. Don’t kill the spiders you find in your home. If you must remove them, use a jar to capture and release them outside. Why? In brief, because spiders are natural pest controllers and are important biological control of pests. If you want to read up more, check out the articles below:
   1. Here’s Why You Should Never Kill A Spider
   2. Don’t Kill Spiders
3. Plant native trees, shrubs, flowers, vegetables, and herbs in your garden to promote biodiversity locally. 
4. Did you know that if every single person in France deleted 50 emails, the energy savings would be equivalent to turning the Eiffel tower’s lights off for 42 years or to New York City not consuming any electricity for 4 hours? If you want to contribute to saving energy on this scale:
   1. refuse unnecessary notifications that clog your inbox
   2. unsubscribe to newsletters/subscriptions you no longer find useful
   3. delete emails with large attachments
   4. clear out your junk mail folder regularly
5. Try Tru Earth’s laundry eco-strips to save space, money, and the planet. If not, at least watch their wonderfully amusing ads to put a smile on your face: Things You Should Never Mix with Water or Real Men do Laundry.
6. Replace your arachnophobia with arachnophilia. The Cornell Library’s Arachnophilia online exhibit explains the nuanced way spiders understand the world around them while discussing the diversity of arachnids, amazing properties of spider silk- which has a higher strength to density ratio than steel- and the use of spider venom in medicine. 

Sources

This is your gentle reminder to always fact check…always.

abc2.org. (2021). FDA Approves Scorpion Venom-based Tumor Paint for Brain Cancer Clinical Trial. [online] Available at: https://abc2.org/press-blog/2014/09/fda-approves-scorpion-venom-based-tumor-paint-brain-tumor-clinical-trial/ [Accessed 9 Dec. 2022].

Animals and Cartoonists. Http://Twitter. com/Johnrplatt Http://Johnrplatt.com Https://Www.instagram.com/Johnrplatt (2021). We Need to Talk About Spider Conservation • The Revelator. [online] The Revelator. Available at: https://therevelator.org/spider-conservation/ [Accessed 9 Dec. 2022].

Arachnophilia – Online exhibitions across Cornell University Library. (2020). Spider Senses. [online] Available at: https://exhibits.library.cornell.edu/arachnophilia/feature/spider-senses [Accessed 9 Dec. 2022].

britishspiders.org.uk. (n.d.). Arachnids and arachnology | British Arachnological Society. [online] Available at: https://britishspiders.org.uk/arachnids [Accessed 9 Dec. 2022].

Caba, J. (2013). ‘Tumor Paint’ Made From Scorpion Venom Could Be Viable Brain Cancer Treatment Option [VIDEO]. [online] Medical Daily. Available at: https://www.medicaldaily.com/tumor-paint-made-scorpion-venom-could-be-viable-brain-cancer-treatment-option-video-264133 [Accessed 9 Dec. 2022].

Culin, J. (2020). arachnid | Definition, Facts, & Examples | Britannica. In: Encyclopædia Britannica. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/animal/arachnid.

EcoWatch. (2021). We Need to Talk About Spider Conservation. [online] Available at: https://www.ecowatch.com/spider-conservation-2652937580.html [Accessed 9 Dec. 2022].

Gui, J., Liu, B., Cao, G., Lipchik, Andrew M., Perez, M., Dekan, Z., Mobli, M., Daly, Norelle L., Alewood, Paul F., Parker, Laurie L., King, Glenn F., Zhou, Y., Jordt, S.-E. and Nitabach, Michael N. (2014). A Tarantula-Venom Peptide Antagonizes the TRPA1 Nociceptor Ion Channel by Binding to the S1–S4 Gating Domain. Current Biology, [online] 24(5), pp.473–483. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.01.013.

Hannon, H. and Atchison, W. (2013). Omega-Conotoxins as Experimental Tools and Therapeutics in Pain Management. Marine Drugs, 11(12), pp.680–699. doi:10.3390/md11030680.

https://www.facebook.com/thoughtcodotcom (2019). There Are at Least 10 Things You Probably Don’t Know About Scorpions. [online] ThoughtCo. Available at: https://www.thoughtco.com/scorpion-facts-4135393 [Accessed 9 Dec. 2022].

jversteegh (2022). Keep Your Bird-Watching—I’m a Spider Man. [online] Outside Online. Available at: https://www.outsideonline.com/culture/essays-culture/spiders-fears-misconceptions/?utm_source [Accessed 9 Dec. 2022].

Lewis, R.J. and Garcia, M.L. (2003). Therapeutic potential of venom peptides. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, 2(10), pp.790–802. doi:10.1038/nrd1197.

March 12, C.N., 2017 and Am, 9:22 (2017). On The Horizon: Scorpion venom as cancer treatment. [online] www.cbsnews.com. Available at: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/on-the-horizon-scorpion-venom-as-cancer-treatment-tumor-paint/.

Oliveira, A.L., Viegas, M.F., da Silva, S.L., Soares, A.M., Ramos, M.J. and Fernandes, P.A. (2022). The chemistry of snake venom and its medicinal potential. Nature Reviews Chemistry, [online] pp.1–19. doi:10.1038/s41570-022-00393-7.

Peterson, J. (2012). Don’t Kill Spiders. [online] HowStuffWorks. Available at: https://home.howstuffworks.com/green-living/dont-kill-spiders.htm [Accessed 9 Dec. 2022].

Shaw, A. (n.d.). How venoms are shaping medical advances | BBC Earth. [online] www.bbcearth.com. Available at: https://www.bbcearth.com/news/how-venoms-are-shaping-medical-advances [Accessed 9 Dec. 2022].

Silva, W. da (2022). Venom: The New Miracle of Medicine. [online] ILLUMINATION-Curated. Available at: https://medium.com/illumination-curated/venom-a-revolution-in-medicine-d163eb065e28 [Accessed 9 Dec. 2022].

src=”https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/6a9e2dae2b328b5cdfa3221e8fa8f071?s=96, img class=”avatar” alt=”Kiersten H., #038;d=mm, Sep. 05, 038;r=g” width=”50″ height=”50″>Kiersten H. and 2022 (2019). Here’s Why You Should Never Kill A Spider. [online] Family Handyman. Available at: https://www.familyhandyman.com/article/heres-why-you-should-never-kill-a-spider/.

Weller, C. (2014). Tarantula Venom Promises Painkiller Development. [online] Medical Daily. Available at: https://www.medicaldaily.com/tarantula-venom-offers-hope-painkiller-development-thanks-novel-screening-method-269479 [Accessed 9 Dec. 2022].

Whiteman, H. (2015). Newly identified compounds in spider venom could help treat chronic pain. [online] www.medicalnewstoday.com. Available at: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/290338 [Accessed 9 Dec. 2022].

Yong, E. (2011). Why do scorpions glow in the dark (and could their whole bodies be one big eye)? [online] Science. Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/why-do-scorpions-glow-in-the-dark-and-could-their-whole-bodies-be-one-big-eye [Accessed 9 Dec. 2022].

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There is something deliciously poetic about using an agent of death to heal. I fell in love with the idea recently, a seductive tango between danger and relief. Venom- a killer and a savior…but how? And what are the implications for medicine?

The story begins deep in the shadowy corners of the earth we have yet to fully explore, where cone snails, spiders, snakes, scorpions, and several other creatures live innocently unaware of the immense biochemical potential of the venom they carry. Like so many great tales, this is one about the underdogs, the unassuming protagonists of a soap opera unraveling in the medical industry right now.

Venom is not at all uncommon. According to Nature’s review The chemistry of snake venom and its medicinal potential, approximately 15% of all animal diversity on earth is venomous. That’s roughly 220,000 species. These bioactive cocktails are even more varied than the number of alcoholic beverages that exist to date. The Institute of Beer estimates roughly 100+ “distinct styles” of beer, with over 73 different ales and more than 25 different lagers. The infographic below shows about 200 types of wine. Now just think what happens when you add whiskey, scotch, vodka, tequila, and rum. You’re now up to more than a thousand different drinks and that still pales in comparison to the rich diversity of venom that exists in the animal kingdom, each which consists of a mixture of 20 to more than 100 components, with venom composition varying between species and even among the same species depending on factors like age, sex, type of prey available, and the environmental conditions. This means that the venom composition of every given snake is actually quite an individual matter. Don’t worry though- of all this variation, peptides and proteins make up more than 90% of its components. 

As you might’ve guessed, for the 220,000 venomous species out there, venom is primarily used for prey capture and defense. That means it packs quite the biochemical punch. This makes it fascinating if you’re a medical researcher…but terrifying if you’ve just upset a pit viper. That said, please don’t upset a pit viper. It’s not worth the likes. 

With that cleared up, we can address the question we’re all thinking: How does venom even work? First things first: peptide toxins are the stars of the show. There are so many of them though, the vast majority have yet to be explored by some intrepid buccaneer of biomedicine. I personally like to think of these highly structured mini-proteins as tiny assassins, perfect for the job due to their small size, how easy it is to make them, structural stability, and how effectively they identify their target. 

 (Brief aside: There is such a thing as venom toxins which aren’t peptides, but most venoms which are “medically significant” look at the venom toxins which are peptides.)

Once they’re in the body of a mammal, they have been found to be highly selective for a diverse range of ion channels and receptors associated with pain signaling pathways such as sodium channels (μ- and μO-conotoxins), calcium channels (ω-conotoxins), and the neurotensin receptor (contulakins) to name just a few. It’s this that leads peptide toxins to express neurotoxicity (toxic to the nervous system), cytotoxicity(toxic to the cells), and hemotoxicity(toxic to red blood cells). In my opinion, if peptide toxins had a catchphrase it would be Black Adam’s line, “I’m no hero.”

Medical researchers, however, might dispute this. Think of them like Dr. Fate defending Black Adam to Carter (who represents the public). “You stop believing in absolutes,” he says. The same applies to venom, at least for the two families including nearly all “medically important” snakes: elapids and vipers. Among these groups of snakes, there is plenty of potential to be explored. 

Firstly, there is potential for using ω-conotoxins, a group of neurotoxic peptides, to identify and determine the physiological role of different neuronal voltage-sensitive calcium channels, which are voltage-gated ion channels found in the membrane of certain cells, in this case neurons. It has also been established that an influx of calcium ions into nerve terminals through these channels triggers neurotransmitter release. As a result, these conotoxins, which block the channels, show potential for being used as powerful analgesics for relieving chronic pain. 

That’s not all! Voltage-sensitive sodium channels, which are much like voltage-sensitive calcium channels except for sodium ions, also play a key role in the nervous system. A number of the subtypes of these channels are connected to clinical states like pain, stroke, and epilepsy. Venoms have evolved to target these channels and block the influx of ions which lead to the adverse side effects of these conditions. That said, sodium channel activators are typically toxic, so only some components of some venoms have considerable therapeutic potential.

Another exciting application of venom is in the treatment of cancer. Chloride channels are one of the many proteins that are part of or interact with membranes in different types of cancer. According to the review by Nature magazine, Therapeutic potential of venom peptides, “Chlorotoxin isolated from the scorpion Leiurus quinquestriatus binds to specific Ca2+-activated chloride channels and certain tumors and gliomas, and so might have potential in the treatment of cancer.”

This is thrilling, but I’m sure the pessimists among us might have picked up on the frequent use of the word “potential” and zeroed in on the copious research gaps in the sprouting field of venomics. While this is true, there are also examples of how venom is already being used, such as in the first ever successful venom-based drug Captopril, which inhibits the angiotensin-converting enzyme, which is crucial for the production of the vasoconstrictor angiotensin that is associated with hypertension. 

Considering that more than 50,000 conopeptides exist, with less than 0.1% having been characterized pharmacologically, I think it’s safe to say that the field of venomics is ripe for discovery and filled with promise. That said, let’s play devil’s advocate for just a minute. After all, I said it would be a soap opera, and if we take a step back, we must recognize that venom is still dangerous enough to kill you. 

Anon, (n.d.). [Online Image] Pexels. Available at: https://www.pexels.com/photo/pit-viper-612964/ [Accessed 18 Nov. 2022].

This suggests a plethora of safety concerns. There are also questions related to cost of production, delivery, and pharmacokinetics, a branch of pharmacology dedicated to studying what will happen to the substances administered to a living organism. Another issue is that peptides are too big to cross the blood-brain barrier and are by nature hydrophilic, or attracted to water, meaning they would have to be administered to the site of action directly. There is also the matter of functional selectivity, or ensuring that the peptides bind to the right place on the membrane. All in all, this means we can’t really be sure how many of the peptides present in venom can find clinical utility. 

Nonetheless, there is still so much we simply don’t know about the venoms that are out there. Yet research gaps, in all their mysterious allure, are something to be excited about. Much like all the best soap operas, this one leaves you hanging on the edge of your seat, gushing with questions about what our unassuming protagonist will reveal to us next, whether the tiny peptides are assassins or the unexpected saviors of the plot, whether society will ever accept a different narrative for the “villains” of nature such as snakes, scorpions, or (gasp) cone snails. Until then, let’s stay tuned. The journey has only just begun. For now, perhaps we could take the ambiguity as an invitation to follow Dr. Fate’s advice to “stop believing in absolutes”, but this time about venom. 

Thought to Action

1. For free, switch your search browser to Ecosia, the search engine which uses the profits produced from your searches to plant trees where they are needed most. Ecosia is currently using its profits to plant trees all around the world, a mission which supports biodiversity, helps to fight climate change, and gives you the chance to make a real difference. 
2. Plant native trees, shrubs, flowers, vegetables, and herbs in your garden to promote biodiversity locally. 
3. Using this link, donate to Save the Snakes, whose mission is to “protect snake populations around the world through education and community outreach to create a harmonious relationship between humans and snakes”. This is vital, because snakes are important creatures toward maintaining balance within food webs worldwide. Meanwhile, according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 12% of assessed snake species are listed as threatened. 
4. According to Advocated for Snake Preservation (ASP),“negative attitudes about snakes may be the biggest barrier to their conservation”. Help ASP to change the narrative by following some of the tips suggested in this factsheet from their website:
   1. Respect and appreciate wildlife from a distance. 
   2. Don’t buy wild-caught animals or collect wildlife. 
   3. Drive carefully, watching for small animals. 
   4. Share positive stories about snakes.
   5. Coexist, modify your yard. 
   6. Don’t relocate wildlife. 
   7. Say “defensive” or “scared”, not “scary” or “aggressive” when describing snake behavior. 
   8. Don’t use bird nesting. 
5. Volunteer for Macmillan Cancer Support or a similar charity related to epilepsy, chronic pain, etc. or make a one-off donation using this link.

Sources

This is your gentle reminder to always fact check. 

Lewis, R.J. and Garcia, M.L. (2003). Therapeutic potential of venom peptides. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, 2(10), pp.790–802. doi:10.1038/nrd1197.

Oliveira, A.L., Viegas, M.F., da Silva, S.L., Soares, A.M., Ramos, M.J. and Fernandes, P.A. (2022). The chemistry of snake venom and its medicinal potential. Nature Reviews Chemistry, [online] pp.1–19. doi:10.1038/s41570-022-00393-7.

The Institute of Beer. (2021). Often asked: How Many Types Of Beer Are There? [online] Available at: https://theinstituteofbeer.com/beer/often-asked-how-many-types-of-beer-are-there.html [Accessed 18 Nov. 2022].

Hannon, H. and Atchison, W. (2013). Omega-Conotoxins as Experimental Tools and Therapeutics in Pain Management. Marine Drugs, 11(12), pp.680–699. doi:10.3390/md11030680.

Sato, C., Ueno, Y., Asai, K., Takahashi, K., Sato, M., Engel, A. and Fujiyoshi, Y. (2001). The voltage-sensitive sodium channel is a bell-shaped molecule with several cavities. Nature, [online] 409(6823), pp.1047–1051. doi:10.1038/35059098.

Wilson, D. and Daly, N. (2018). Venomics: A Mini-Review. High-Throughput, 7(3), p.19. doi:10.3390/ht7030019.

Shaw, A. (n.d.). How venoms are shaping medical advances | BBC Earth. [online] www.bbcearth.com. Available at: https://www.bbcearth.com/news/how-venoms-are-shaping-medical-advances [Accessed 18 Nov. 2022].

The post Life, Death & Drugs: Why We Need Venom In Medicine appeared first on Green Also Green.

I have always been in love with paradoxes, from simple ones like Jumbo Shrimp, to the deepest philosophical questions of human nature, to the poor life- or death, or both- of Schrödinger’s cat. Recently I have invited a new conundrum into my heart’s library of contradictions: ethnoherpetology, which is the study of the human relationship with serpents. It’s hard to draw a start and finish line on this one, but I would say it begins roughly with the representation of Satan as a snake, and has led to my fascination with the use of snake venom in medicine. For centuries the relationship between humanity and these cold-blooded creatures has been steeped in mythology, religion, morality, and fear. Now I seek to ask a simple question: is this bad press fair?

Anon, (n.d.). [Online Image] Pixabay. Available at: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-holding-red-and-black-snake-34426/ [Accessed 6 Nov. 2022].

Never having played devil’s advocate before, this seemed justified. They are predators, instinctually programmed to murder. Their evil was preordained in the same way pandas were preordained to represent innocence and dogs to represent loyalty. So why now challenge it? On one level, it’s because the way animals are represented in our collective imagination actually matters. It influences which habitats we decide to conserve, how we go about managing conservation, and on a much more basic level, our own capacity for empathy. No creature is inherently evil, and holding such beliefs, even passively, can lead to an unfair bias against some of the most vulnerable species.  

Yet the fraught relationship between snakes and people started long before the modern-day notion of “conservation” was even around. First stop: the Bible. In the well-known Genesis passage, God says to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle, and above all wild animals; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Seen as a representation of evil right from the start, but even more so, conveyed as a disguise for Satan, God is said to have cursed the serpent. Not only this, but it’s cursed “above all wild animals” and God declares that “enmity” will be put between humanity and the serpent’s descendents. At first thought, the decision to use a snake- whose legs were taken away so perhaps it was actually a lizard- seems arbitrary. 

Nonetheless, such a strong sentiment of evil placed on one creature led me to dig further, where I found some accounts of the tale of Medusa, the simultaneous “terrible Gorgon in Greek mythology” and modern day feminist icon. She started out as a beautiful woman, the daughter of Phorcys and the most gorgeous among all her sisters, who were monsters known collectively as the “Phorcydes”. She was then raped by Poseidon- god of the sea, storms, earthquakes, and horses- while attempting to worship in the Temple of Athena. Outraged that Poseidon had defiled her temple but unable to directly punish him, Athena took her anger out on Medusa, turning her once-golden locks into snakes. 

Anon, (n.d.). [Online Image] Pixabay. Available at: https://www.pexels.com/photo/grayscale-photo-of-door-knocker-11880967/ [Accessed 6 Nov. 2022].

Besides being totally unfair, this downfall is a fascinating evolution from beautiful, meek, and powerless to ugly, solitary, frightening, and powerful. It doesn’t take too much digging to see why modern-day feminists had adopted Medusa’s image. Not only does her story serve as a warning to stay away from Poseidon, but the ‘monster’ she becomes after her undeserved punishment is absolutely terrifying. 

Without getting bogged down on the feminist analysis of Greek myth and Genesis, another common thread I picked up on between these two tales- no pun intended- is the idea of snakes as the product of injustice. If you read Genesis, the snake only loses its legs after tricking Eve. In the story of Medusa, the snakes represent her anger after she is raped by Poseidon. This seems to suggest a more nuanced kind of symbolism, leaving me wondering how this sense of permanence in response to moral mistakes is attached to the permanence of venom and death that serpents bring. 

That said, the extent to which this bad press is fair comes down to what we do as a society with these stories, labeling some animals as ‘good’ and others as ‘bad’ merely because our myths say so. Is it ‘fair’ that snakes are used to depict evil? And who decided history would be spent fearing snakes, worshipping cows, befriending dogs, eating chicken, or making clothes out of sheep hair? What are the implications of these attitudes? Is this depiction always understood as a creative choice rather than an objective reality?

Of course though, there is room for complexity in every narrative. Alongside the symbolism of snakes as evil in mythology, there are those who symbolize the good. According to The rod and the serpent: history’s ultimate healing symbol, the snake has served as a medical emblem for more than 2400 years, ever since it was associated with Asclepius, the ancient Greek god of medicine and healing. According to myth, Asclepius learned the art of healing from his father, Apollo, and the centaur Cheiron. He soon became so proficient in using drugs and carrying out surgery that he was worshiped as the founder of medicine. Zeus was worried about this talent, particularly because Aesclepius allegedly had the power to bring back the dead and Zeus worried he would make mankind immortal. Zeus’s solution? Murdering Asclepius with a lightning bolt, subsequently placing him among the stars as the constellation Ophiuchus, “the serpent bearer”. To honor the fallen healer, Greeks used snakes in healing rituals, regarding them as sacred. This is because their snake venom was thought to have medicinal value and because their skin was a symbol of renewal. 

Yes, you got that right. Alongside centuries of anti-snake mythology there has also been a rich symbolic link between medicine and herpetology. Think of a snake shedding its skin, growing into something new. This image of renewal has inspired a whole field to take on a snake-themed logo. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, take a close look at the caduceus, the staff carried by Hermes in Greco-Egyptian mythology and also found in most doctors’ offices. Snakes were also represented through depictions of Hygieia, Asclepius’ daughter who tended to his temples. Her trademark symbol of a bowl containing medicinal potion with the serpent of Wisdom drinking from it is now an international emblem for pharmacies.

Anon, (n.d.). [Online Image] Pixabay. Available at: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-wearing-a-medic-uniform-holding-the-door-of-an-ambulance-8942054/ [Accessed 6 Nov. 2022].

This highlights the neglected other half of our original question. Are these uplifting symbols of serpents in medicine unjust? The question applies to other animals as well. Is it wrong to assume dogs and cats are the protagonists of all domestic animals? Is it unfair to portray pandas as harmless giant teddy bears and sharks as ruthless hunters, as in Jaws? To me, the answer to this question is the same as before. The fairness is determined based off what we do about the portrayals of these animals. For snakes, the lean toward negative representation is unfair not because snakes care if we like them, but because what we think influences our efforts to protect them. With such sharp levels of biodiversity loss, this is dangerous. 

In dipping into the good and evil nature of snake representation, with satanic associations on the one hand and the Caduceus on the other, I began to notice in some places a seductive tango with both sides. One example is from the American poet, Emily Dickinson, whose poem A Narrow Fellow in the Grass is shown below. 

In this poem, one of Dickinson’s most popular works, she portrays a snake as quiet but threatening, evoking themes of mystery alongside simultaneous “cordiality” and fear. The snake appears to be both a vehicle of danger and a quiet, unassuming gentleman. It hints at a larger dichotomy within nature between danger and generosity. Perhaps this ambiguity is the closest we can get to what snakes really are to us. There is, as Dickinson states, “cordiality”, but also mystery: Danger, venom, and death beside healing, renewal, and strength. 

Now I return to my original question: is the bad press fair? Better questions: Does it help? Should it continue? Are we all collectively responsible? The answers, in their completeness, are naturally more complicated than can ever be communicated in the container of human language, but let’s try. 

There is good and bad, but there is also a place beyond the two where morality doesn’t belong. There is reality and symbolism, but there is also a place where symbols become the reality they are meant to represent. Snakes, ultimately, are really just snakes, just as ants are just ants and giraffes are just giraffes. They are no more good or evil than a flower is good or evil, or a rainbow, or a thunderstorm, or a scorpion.  And yes, it really does matter that we clarify this, because if the world doesn’t accept that one predatory species is at the same moral level as a “cute” one, conservation efforts will miss the mark severely. So perhaps this is not such a paradox at all. Snakes were never simultaneously good and bad. They were always neither, and that’s why the bad press- and the good press- they have received was never fair. How could it be? A snake is a snake is a snake, and nothing else. 

Thought to Action

1. For free, switch your search browser to Ecosia, the search engine which uses the profits produced from your searches to plant trees where they are needed most. Ecosia is currently using its profits to plant trees all around the world, a mission which supports biodiversity, helps to fight climate change, and gives you the chance to make a real difference. 
2. Plant native trees, shrubs, flowers, vegetables, and herbs in your garden to promote biodiversity locally. 
3. Using this link, donate to the organization Save the Snakes, whose mission is to “protect snake populations around the world through education and community outreach to create a harmonious relationship between humans and snakes”. This is vital, because snakes are important creatures toward maintaining balance within food webs worldwide. Meanwhile, according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 12% of assessed snake species are listed as threatened. 
4. According to Advocated for Snake Preservation (ASP),“negative attitudes about snakes may be the biggest barrier to their conservation”. Help ASP to change the narrative by following some of the tips suggested in this factsheet from their website:
   1. Respect and appreciate wildlife from a distance. 
   2. Don’t buy wild-caught animals or collect wildlife. 
   3. Drive carefully, watching for small animals. 
   4. Share positive stories about snakes.
   5. Coexist, modify your yard. 
   6. Don’t relocate wildlife. 
   7. Say “defensive” or “scared”, not “scary” or “aggressive” when describing snake behavior. 
   8. Don’t use bird nesting. 
5. Visit and support your local botanical garden, as these are generally used to study and promote biodiversity, as scientists can grow, study, and store plants in their natural habitats. 

Bibliography

Reminder: Always fact check!

dailyhistory.org. (2021). Who was Medusa the terrible Gorgon in mythology – DailyHistory.org. [online] Available at: https://dailyhistory.org/Who_was_Medusa_the_terrible_Gorgon_in_mythology [Accessed 23 Oct. 2022].

Interesting Literature. (2021). The Curious Symbolism of Snakes in Literature and Myth. [online] Available at: https://interestingliterature.com/2021/06/snake-serpent-symbolism-in-literature-religion-myth/ [Accessed 23 Oct. 2022].

Lewis, R.J. and Garcia, M.L. (2003). Therapeutic potential of venom peptides. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, 2(10), pp.790–802. doi:10.1038/nrd1197.

Oliveira, A.L., Viegas, M.F., da Silva, S.L., Soares, A.M., Ramos, M.J. and Fernandes, P.A. (2022). The chemistry of snake venom and its medicinal potential. Nature Reviews Chemistry, [online] (6), pp.1–19. doi:10.1038/s41570-022-00393-7.

The post Sorry to Snakes: The Good, The Bad & The Truth  appeared first on Green Also Green.

We are raised on a steady diet of acceptance when it comes to the circle of life. I wonder though, how often we think of the life cycles of cultures themselves. These seemingly eternal forces that dictate so much of life for so long and for so many people…can die? As chilling as this may be, we live in a time when a heartbreakingly long list of cultures are racing toward their quiet death. Embedded within these cultures, we are also witnessing the staggering loss of linguistic diversity that once existed in a time before globalization.

Much like the circle of life, we can pass this off as the ‘natural’ way of things. After all, nothing lasts forever, right? Being ‘natural’ would imply a certain degree of normality. Even more subtly, it would imply balance, death and birth both acting as part of the same cycle. Is language loss balance though? Similar to the devastating global decrease in biodiversity, the answer would be absolutely not. 

Much like different species, a melting pot of language is not only exciting, but wholeheartedly necessary for a global society to flourish. This is because progress relies on new ideas, which come from diversity of thought. That brings us to the link between language and ideas, a contentious question that has been hotly debated. Are ideas a product of the way we communicate? Is the way we communicate a factor of our ideas? Evidence suggests that indeed, language influences our worldview by imposing a certain framework of perceiving stimuli. David Ludden Ph.D. explains this in How Language Shapes Our World. “While language perception is driven by expectations,” he states. “…language also creates expectations that influence our perception of the world more generally. This is because we don’t just use language to communicate with others, we use it to think to ourselves.”

“…We don’t just use language to communicate with others, we use it to think to ourselves.”

David Ludden Ph.D, “How Languages Shapes Our World”

In losing a manner of thinking, cultures as a whole are in danger as well. Jonty Yamisha harps on this idea in his article The Challenges of Preserving and Reviving Endangered Minority Languages. “Language is culture,” he asserts. “It is the idea that we use to connect with our ideas, beliefs, emotions. It communicates our place in the world, our history, and our culture. When a language disappears, it takes away the ability to communicate one’s identity with it. And the world becomes smaller.” Similar to Matsuura, Yamisha identifies that at the core of culture there is language, which is inherited from each generation to the next not only as a form of communication, but also as a unique perception of the world. When it is lost, the “ability to communicate one’s identity” is also threatened. The image he portrays has a haunting way of lingering in the mind. When culture dies, the world shrinks, becomes simpler, becomes smaller. With this, we not only lose lifestyles and ideas, but even more importantly, we lose ways of thinking. 

We can’t let this happen. Understanding the languages of other cultures is an important step to problem-solving in the modern day, particularly regarding issues like food insecurity. With a new way of thinking comes a new set of solutions, and new solutions are vital. As UNESCO Director-General Matsuura remarks, “The loss of languages is also detrimental to humanity’s grasp of biodiversity, as they transmit much knowledge about nature and the universe.” Matsuura’s comment highlights the connection between language, knowledge, and our human interactions with the world. If a language dies, so does a framework for understanding the world. If this is so, what will happen if the decrease in linguistic diversity continues? How will this affect an already-distant connection to food and farming?

The solution, in a general sense, is to be curious about other cultures and languages. As always though, there are obstacles, especially in a time when globalization and colonization has driven so many languages into extinction or statuses like “vulnerable” and “endangered”. This has meant that unwritten languages have faced a high risk of extinction, with over 100 unwritten languages and dialects in Mexico alone and over a thousand in India. In fact, the majority of the estimated 3,500 languages and dialects in the world, a dizzying 3,000 in total, are unwritten. A study conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) also estimated that 3,000 of the world’s 6,000 languages are headed for extinction because no children speak them. Moreover, A UNEP report in 1999 indicated that of the estimated 5,000-7,000 languages spoken worldwide, nearly 2,500 were in danger of immediate extinction and an even higher number were losing the “ecological contexts that keep them as vibrant languages”. UNESCO approximated that 4,000-5,000 of these languages are spoken by indigenous people. 

(Please note that the number of languages in the world is constantly changing, so the estimated total number of languages in the world varies among these statistics.) 

Putting this all together, linguistic diversity is in danger and it’s our job to keep these cultures alive for the sake of maintaining a world rich with diversity. In Anna Luisa Daigneault’s Sapiens article How to Resurrect Dying Languages, she concludes that, “Languages are a fundamental right and the cornerstone of humanity’s diverse cultural identity. Speaking a dominant language does not mean communities have to give up their right to maintain and promote their ancestral language locally and globally.”

Echoing Daigneault’s words, language is at the essence of what distinguishes cultures, identities, and worldviews. With a daunting amount of them undergoing the threats of an increasingly globalized world, it has become extremely important to prioritize their preservation and growth. For this reason, I’ve decided to take on the challenge of studying an endangered language over the course of a month. See the heading below for a deeper explanation of this plan. 

My Plan to Study Hawaiian over a Month

• What’s the point of learning a language you’ll hardly ever use?
  • Curiosity
  • Gaining a greater appreciation of another culture 
  • Understanding how endangered languages compare to mainstream ones 
  • Answering the following questions: 
    • How does understanding Hawaiian change my perspective of agriculture?
    • What wisdom can I find in Hawaiian that cannot be found in English?
    • Does the Hawaiian language offer a pathway to improved agriculture?

• About Hawaiian
  • The Hawaiian language is critically endangered.
  • The culture & traditions of Hawaii were transmitted orally across generations until American missionaries arrived in 1820 and created a written Hawaiian language based on how the unwritten language sounded. After introducing printed Bibles and other books, Hawaiians soon adopted written literacy. Until the late 1800s, Hawaiian was the primary language. In 1893, Queen Lili`uokalani, the last reigning Hawaiian monarch, was overthrown by American forces who banned the use of the Hawaiian language in formal educational environments. The ban was only recently lifted in 1986. 
  • The Hawaiian island group can be found in the most northeastern part of Polynesia, at the center of the Pacific Ocean. For this reason, Hawaiian is closely related to other Polynesian languages. 
• What’s the ultimate goal of this project?
  • Be able to hold a low-level conversation in Hawaiian. 
• What’s the plan?
  • 1. Learning syntax of Hawaiian 
    • Resources: Youtube, Hawaiian grammar websites(e.g. Olelo Online), 
  • 2. Learning sound, words, phrases
    • Listening resources: Spotify & Youtube
  • 3. Learning Conversation (find a partner & start practicing)

Thought to Action

• Share this article with at least 3 other people
• Write to your local MP/Congressperson
• Learn to say one of these phrases:
  • Say “See you tomorrow” in Quechua: “Paqarinkama!”
  • Say “Hello! How are you?” in Plains Cree: “Tanisi!”
  • Say “I love you.” in Zulu: “Ngiyakuthanda.”
  • Say “I love you” in Hawaiian: “Aloha wau ia ‘oe.”
• Try growing some food yourself at home using this helpful guide. 
• Browse Tim Brooke’s website Endangered Alphabets to view his artwork surrounding the alphabets of endangered languages and follow him on Instagram
• Support locally-sourced food by attending your local farmer’s market.

Bibliography

Beauchemin, M. (2020). Understanding Ho’oponopono: A Beautiful Hawaiian Prayer for Forgiveness. [online] Grace & Lightness Magazine. Available at: https://graceandlightness.com/hooponopono-hawaiian-prayer-for-forgiveness/.

Dec 2019, A.L.D. / 18 (2019). How to Resurrect Dying Languages. [online] SAPIENS. Available at: https://www.sapiens.org/language/language-revitalization/.

Endangered Languages project (n.d.). Endangered Languages Project. [online] www.endangeredlanguages.com. Available at: https://www.endangeredlanguages.com/.

hawaiihistory.org. (2022). About the Hawaiian Language on this site. – Hawaii History – About HawaiiHistory.org. [online] Available at: http://hawaiihistory.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ig.page&PageID=496.

https://plus.google.com/+UNESCO (2017). February 2009. [online] UNESCO. Available at: https://en.unesco.org/courier/endangered-languages-endangered-thought.

Ludden, D. (2015). How Language Shapes Our World. [online] Psychology Today. Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/talking-apes/201509/how-language-shapes-our-world.

Redish, L. (2021). Endangered Languages: Revival and Revitalization. [online] www.native-languages.org. Available at: http://www.native-languages.org/revive.htm.

Shofner, K. (n.d.). Some Little Known Facts About the Hawaiian Language. [online] www.unitedlanguagegroup.com. Available at: https://www.unitedlanguagegroup.com/blog/translation/little-known-facts-about-the-hawaiian-language.

Src=”https://Secure.gravatar.com/Avatar/?s=96, img C., d=mm, Feb. 08, r=g”>Katie M. and 2017 (2021). 6 Creative Ways to Save Endangered Languages Before They Disappear. [online] Reader’s Digest. Available at: https://www.rd.com/list/save-endangered-languages/.

The Glossika Blog. (2018). At What Rate are Languages Dying? [online] Available at: https://ai.glossika.com/blog/glossika-language-vitality-report-2018?utm_source=en_in_blog&utm_medium=preserving_endangered_languages_guest_post [Accessed 1 Jun. 2022].

The Life and Death of Languages: Diversity, Identity and Globalization. (2014). The Hawaiian Language and a Brief History. [online] Available at: https://hkulanguage.wordpress.com/history/ [Accessed 1 Jun. 2022].

Uia.org. (2016a). Endangered cultures | World Problems & Global Issues | The Encyclopedia of World Problems. [online] Available at: http://encyclopedia.uia.org/en/problem/135023.

Uia.org. (2016b). Endangered unwritten languages | World Problems & Global Issues | The Encyclopedia of World Problems. [online] Available at: http://encyclopedia.uia.org/en/problem/149536.

Yamisha, J. (2019). The Challenges of Preserving and Reviving Endangered Minority Languages. [online] The Glossika Blog. Available at: https://ai.glossika.com/blog/the-challenges-of-preserving-and-reviving-endangered-minority-languages?utm_source=en_in_blog&utm_medium=preserving_endangered_languages_guest_post [Accessed 1 Jun. 2022].

The post When Words Die appeared first on Green Also Green.

The mouth is an underappreciated organ. It is the place where our voices leave our bodies, where food enters in. It allows us to give; it allows us to take. Think of all the interactions that happen there on a daily basis and how they influence your life. To narrow it down to the food we eat and the things we say, we’re already led to consider communication, ideas, diet, nutrition, taste, expression, comfort. It seems like a soap opera’s worth of drama. 

However the actual link between language and nutrition hasn’t really been analyzed on a deep level, and is often overlooked for other ties. For now, let’s explain why this connection is important by linking it to part of the system that brings us food in the first place: agriculture. 

First and foremost, how are nutrition and agriculture actually connected? Surely, wherever and however you grow a tomato, it is still, at the end of the day, a tomato. While this is somewhat true, from a biochemical perspective, there are huge variations in the nutritional value of a crop based on the soil it was grown from, the pesticides & herbicides used, and the stage in its growth at which it was harvested. However all of this is happening at an invisible level, so in the eyes of a consumer, these crucial changes are easy to overlook. 

Unfortunately, nutrition is one of those complicated political things that has one foot in the fads of diet culture, another in the world of biased research, another in medical journals, and yet another in tradition. So you will find that nutrition is not a normal two-footed beast. Instead, it’s a mammoth-octopus of an issue, with plenty of subjectivity to boot. 

For this reason, I won’t go into the pros and cons of any particular diet. Instead, I will analyze the agricultural system’s impact on the general nutrition of all food that it produces and its effect on the health of our bodies now and of future generations. Then I will discuss how modern day agricultural systems have affected these processes.

To begin with, let’s talk about nutrition and agriculture. How does one influence the other and why does it matter? First stop: dirt. Zoom in and you will see a metropolis of microorganisms that work for the ecosystem by breaking down organic matter, filtering water, regulating the soil fertility, providing nutrients for plant growth and even controlling pests and pathogens. This goes back to the need for biodiversity, highlighting the incredibly complex world that nourishes our crops over their lifetimes. As an example, let’s say you were to take two soil samples, one from the chronically overworked soil found when farming the same crop with no break in between, the other from a smaller farm with a variety of crops that change based on season. On the surface, both seem pretty similar, but really the micro-metropolis of each is drastically different. In the soil from the monoculture, you will find a ghost town with little life, meaning the soil is less fertile and capable of carrying out all those processes I mentioned earlier. On the other hand, the second sample will be like a flourishing city filled with activity. 

Most modern highly-centralized agriculture today disregards this important part of a plant’s growth by prioritizing the need for control over pests and providing certain nutrients in excess. Not only does this pollute waterways, cause eutrophication, contaminate groundwater, and decrease the amount of nutrients per pound of crops, but it damages the rich diversity of our soil. 

Yet the barrage on soil doesn’t end there. It is compounded by the use of monocultures in most farm settings. This means that only one crop is grown year round without giving the soil any time to rest. Imagine the burnout you might feel after having no vacation from work or school for an entire year. This is similar to what’s happening to all the bacteria, fungi, protozoa & nematodes in the soil. The solution? Crop rotations or permaculture, which are both ways of giving the soil a greater variety of crops and a little more rest as a result. This adds more nutrients to the soil and restores the soil’s fertility, allowing every pound of crop harvested to be more nutrient-dense… and more nutrient-dense food gives more nutrition. 

You can think of it similar to a human diet requiring a diverse range of foods. Like this, the soil requires a diverse range of organic matter and living plants to cultivate a variety of microorganisms. Imagine if you only ate one food for the rest of your life. You would experience nutrient deficiencies, fatigue, and a mountain of other health issues. The soil is much the same and requires rest and diversity to stay fertile. Crop rotation helps achieve this, as it periodically changes the crops that are harvested from the soil..

Now onto why this matters at all. At first it might be obvious. “I need to eat more nutrient-dense oranges so I don’t suffer from night blindness and dry skin.”; “I need more iron so I don’t get anemia.”; “I need vitamin C so I don’t get scurvy.” While you would be spot on, there is a much scarier idea to consider here: What if our food changed the expression of our genes? What if it even affects how they are passed on to our children? 

If this is enough to send chills down your spine, then I suggest you take a look at Dr. Cate and Luke Shanahan’s book Deep Nutrition, which discusses the influence of food on epigenetics. 

To summarize, let’s start by stating what epigenetics actually is. According to an article by Hyeran Jang and Carlo Serra, Nutrition, Epigenetics, and Diseases, it is “the field dedicated to the heritable features that complements the genetic information stored in the DNA sequence”. In essence, this has to do with DNA modifications and the interactions of microRNAs with the genome. One way to think about this is by imagining a movie. Let’s call it The Single-Celled Soap Opera. The cells in your body would be the actors and the DNA in each cell’s nucleus would be the script. Now that we have actors and script, we need someone to direct the film. In this case, the director would be your epigenome. 

As we all know, a director can make or break a movie. The same is the case for epigenetics. So when we tamper with it by exposing ourselves to the wrong environmental stimuli, such as food which lacks nutrition, our epigenome acts as a less skilled director for all those cells and DNA, leading to undesired consequences such as disease, cancer, etc. Epigenetic changes occur all throughout our life, so it is important to be wary of how we influence these chemical signals. In Shanahan’s Deep Nutrition, she challenges her readers to shift their perspective of food as a source of calories to think of it as information that provides our bodies with the right building-blocks for development. When it comes to nutrition, the focus should be eating food that sends the signal to keep us young, healthy and intelligent by supporting tissues in places like our muscles, bones, and joints while not creating inflammation. The obvious way to implement this is by reducing our consumption of overly processed foods, but what if even ‘healthy’ foods have become less nutrient-dense?

According to this article from Scientific American, a Kushi Institute analysis of nutrient data from 1975 to 1997 found that average calcium levels in 12 fresh vegetables dropped 27%; iron levels 37%; vitamin A levels 21%, and vitamin C levels 30%. A similar study of nutrient data in Britain from 1930 to 1980, published in the British Food Journal found that in 20 vegetables the average calcium content had declined 19%; iron 22%; and potassium 14%. In addition to this, another study estimated that to get the same amount of Vitamin A as “our grandparents” would have gotten from one orange, we would have to eat eight!

After pondering all this, perhaps you’re feeling quite powerless. Where do we go to find nutrient-dense food that will produce the desired results epigenetically? Whose dietary advice do we follow? Who is making sure that everyone receives the right amount of safe, high-quality food that meets their nutritional requirements?

To be candid, there is no easy answer. The systems impacting food security globally are still facing high levels of malnutrition, undernutrition, and increasing levels of disease. However what is in place is a Universal Declaration of Human Rights that provides global leaders with the right priorities. Article 25 is of particular interest to me in regard to food security:

• Article 25: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control…”

In addition, we have the the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, many of which relate to the issue of food security (e.g. No poverty, zero hunger, good health & wellbeing, clean water & sanitation, reduced inequalities, sustainable cities & communities, climate action, etc.).

With all this in mind, we can conclude that improving agricultural practices in order to improve nutrition should be a priority. We all eat food and it impacts everyone’s epigenetics, whether you are an impoverished farmer earning below minimum wage, or a Hollywood actress with a personal dietician. 

Now that we know why it’s so important to build a system that supports everyone, let’s move on to how we can accomplish this in my next article. 

Thought to Action:

• Share this article with at least 3 people
• Contact your local MP/Congressperson
• Suggested reading: Deep Nutrition by Dr. Cate Shanahan
• Try out the Too Good to Go app, which aims to decrease food waste by allowing you to rescue surplus food from local businesses
• Ask local restaurants if they could donate their extra food to a foodbank 

Bibliography:

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (n.d.). Nutrition. [online] Available at: https://www.fao.org/nutrition/en/.

Haddad, L. and Oshaug, A. (2002). Nutrition and Agriculture A R N E O S H A U G A N D L AW R E N C E H A D D A D NUTRITION A FOUNDATION FOR DEVELOPMENT A FOUNDATION FOR DEVELOPMENT. [online] Available at: https://www.unscn.org/files/Publications/Briefs_on_Nutrition/Brief6_EN.pdf.

Jang, H. and Serra, C. (2014). Nutrition, Epigenetics, and Diseases. Clinical Nutrition Research, 3(1), p.1. doi:10.7762/cnr.2014.3.1.1.

Li, X. and Qi, L. (2022). Epigenetics in Precision Nutrition. Journal of Personalized Medicine, [online] 12(4), p.533. doi:10.3390/jpm12040533.

Niculescu, M.D. (2012). Nutritional epigenetics. ILAR journal, [online] 53(3-4), pp.270–278. doi:10.1093/ilar.53.3-4.270.

Scientific American. (2011). Dirt Poor: Have Fruits and Vegetables Become Less Nutritious? [online] Available at: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/soil-depletion-and-nutrition-loss/.

Shanahan, C. and Shanahan, L. (2018). Deep nutrition : why your genes need traditional food. New York: Flatiron Books.

Sharma, I.K., Di Prima, S., Essink, D. and Broerse, J.E.W. (2020). Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture: A Systematic Review of Impact Pathways to Nutrition Outcomes. Advances in Nutrition. doi:10.1093/advances/nmaa103.

Shekar, M. (2015). Nutrition and Agriculture: Bridging the Gap. [online] blogs.worldbank.org. Available at: https://blogs.worldbank.org/health/nutrition-and-agriculture-bridging-gap.

United Nations (1948). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. [online] United Nations. Available at: https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights.

United Nations (2015). The 17 sustainable development goals. [online] United Nations. Available at: https://sdgs.un.org/goals.

What is Epigenetics? (2018). A Super Brief and Basic Explanation of Epigenetics for Total Beginners. [online] Available at: https://www.whatisepigenetics.com/what-is-epigenetics/.

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