They have successfully scavenged the offending pesticide from the
victim's bloodstream. This is an obvious route to exploit fully on
all the other pesticides.
Most are victims due to chronic exposure, often quite accidental.
After all it is handled often in agricultural circumstances. There
is no .one usually there to be properly paranoid.
Agriculture is learning how to operate organically and these
pesticides will go out of service. Unfortunately, that will still
takes several decades.
New treatment could
combat deadly chemical agents
by Staff Writers
Sheffield UK (SPX) Jan 15, 2013
An enzyme treatment
which could neutralise the effects of lethal chemicals responsible
for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people across the world
has been developed by experts at the University of Sheffield.
Organophosphorus
agents (OP) are used as pesticides in developing countries and acute
poisoning is common because of insufficient control, poor storage,
ready availability, and inadequate education amongst farmers.
It is estimated about
200,000 people die each year across the world from OP poisoning,
through occupational exposure, unintentional use and misuse, mostly
in developing countries like India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka and
through deliberate terrorist activities.
OPs include compounds
like Tabun, which was developed in 1936 by German scientists during
World War II, Sarin, Soman, Cyclosarin, VX, and VR.
Using a modified
human enzyme, scientist Professor Mike Blackburn from the
University of Sheffield's Department of Molecular Biology and
Biotechnology collaborated in a consultancy role with Professor
Alexander Gabibov of the Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute, Moscow, and
Professor Patrick Masson of the Departement de Toxicologie, Centre de
Recherches du Service de Sante des Armees, to create a
"bioscavenger" which was found to protect mice against the
nerve agent VR and showed no lasting effects.
In studies performed
at the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry in Pushchino, Russia, a
total of eight mice were treated with the new enzyme after being
subjected to enough of the VR agent to kill several of the animals -
about 63 mg - and all survived.
Professor Blackburn
said: "This current publication describes a novel method to
generate a bioscavenger for the Russian VR organophosphorus agent
with the key property of being long-acting in the bloodstream.
"That has been
achieved by a combination of chemical surface modification
(polysialylation) and biotechnology of production (through the use of
an in vitro CHO-based expression system employing genes encoding
butyrylcholinesterase and a proline-rich peptide under special
promoter control).
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