Response
to: Snakebite, the price of surviving
underdevelopment
---------- Original Message
----------
From: "Brian - bf-sci.com" <brian.hanley@bf-sci.com>
To: editor@ghanadot.com
Date: September 30, 2015 at 12:42 PM
Subject: Article - Snakebite, the price of
surviving underdevelopment, E. Ablorh-Odjidja
Editor of Ghanadot,
Yes, mithridatism
works. Period. There is no question about it.
Mithridatism is a form of vaccination. I
have done my best to study this method. I have
collected years of self-immunization data from
people who do this in the USA. There are some
who do demonstrations with black and green
mamba, cobra, krait and North American
rattlesnakes. One of them, Tim Friede, is in
Florida being certified by Ripley's as being
able to accept multiple venomous snake bites
without dying, or even experiencing much
debilititation. This man's level of immunity is
remarkable. He slowly built up his injections
until he is able to inject a full dose of venom
from these snakes and survive. But vaccinating
to the point where a bite will not cause death
is much easier.
There is a big problem though. Some
prominent Western academics have declared this
practice unfit for humans, too dangerous, and
worse, claimed it doesn't work. I have been
attacked and slandered simply for saying that I
am trying to study this method. This is
non-scientific and simply wrong.
I have, along with Mr. Friede, wanted to
bring this practice of self-inoculation back to
Africa and Asia. The poor cannot afford
antivenin, and antivenin has its own problems. A
person who gets antivenin will develop an immune
response to it. Few things are perfect. (I am
not saying antivenin is a bad thing. It has its
place. I am saying it should not be the only
thing.)
The method I came up with was to mix tattoo
ink with small amounts of venom and make a
tattoo over time. Venom immunity has to be
refreshed regularly to stay current. But it can
be done. I discussed this with Dr. Church at
Harvard and he thought it was a brilliant idea.
This method of mithridatism is most
effective on snakes that have neurotoxic venom.
Tim says that mamba bites and krait bites are
the easiest because of that. Some snakes, such
as gaboon vipers, can inject so much venom that
by my calculations, only a 400 pound man (who
was all muscles) could possibly be able to
counter that bite by mithridatism. A large
gaboon viper can do this.
I would be happy to come and teach what I
know to re-introduce this method of protection
against snakebite to Africa. Tim would like to
also, if he can afford to take the time from his
job. It will work. It can be done with simple
methods available to villagers in the bush.
There are also indications that a lifetime
practice of mithridatism is a significant aid to
living a longer life that is strong and healthy.
Thank you,
Brian
--
Brian Hanley, PhD
Butterfly Sciences
Davis, CA 95616
(415)518-8153
http://bf-sci.com/
Article:
Snakebite, the price of
surviving underdevelopment - E. Ablorh-Odjidja
