In the south-east of Turkey, the “livestock” of this farm is surprising: it is home to 20,000 scorpions, bred for their venom for medical applications. A production that sells at 10 million dollars per liter.
In the province of Sanliurfa, in the south-east of Turkey, Metin Örenler has an operation that is out of the ordinary: on his farm, he raises some 20,000 scorpions of the species Androctonus turkiyensis. The charming little beasts that make up his “livestock” are housed in transparent plastic boxes, which line the walls of his 550 square meter laboratory. Why such breeding? To “milk” them in a way, understand: extracting their venom. Equipped with suitable pliers, the laboratory employees gently take the scorpions out of the boxes and collect a tiny drop of venom at the end of the animal’s stinger. The liquid is then frozen and packaged in powder before being sold and exported to France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Switzerland.
“The extraction of the venom is done using electrical stimulation. If you set the electricity too high you risk killing the scorpion, if it is too low you will not get venom. The conservation of venom is also very complicated, which is why so few of us work in this sector, ”explains Metin Örenler to Turkish media T24, relayed by Courrier international.
A venom at 10 million dollars a liter
The venom of this scorpion has medical applications. For example, it is an effective antidote against other venoms, from scorpions but also from snakes. It is also used to make cosmetics. “We sell our decoctions in Turkey, and some of the antidotes we make here are then used in Africa against snakebites,” the breeder told the Turkish media. But we mainly send our product abroad, where it is mainly used in the pharmaceutical sector, in particular for painkillers or anesthetics. Laboratories are also studying its properties in their research against cancer, and even the defense sector is interested in our product. »
As for the effectiveness and the cosmetic interest of products based on this venom, they have not yet been really demonstrated, reports the Indian news channel Mirror Now, but on the medical level, it is a product which opens up promising avenues, according to the scientists.
This business is very lucrative: a liter of venom sells for 10 million dollars (a little over 10 million euros), which makes it one of the most expensive products in the world. However, before obtaining the equivalent of a liter, it is necessary to be patient: a single scorpion provides approximately 2 milligrams of venom every twenty or thirty days. In all, the laboratory farm is currently capable of producing 2 grams of venom per day. Metin Örenler, who has just obtained authorization from the ministry, plans to increase the capacity of his operation to 50,000 scorpions.
