The Shark-COVID Connection: A What-If Scenario
By Stefanie Brendl
While discussing the shark squalene issue with a reporter recently, a theory that had been brewing in my subconscious for months finally found its way to the surface. WHAT IF we don’t see the real danger in the Shark squalene and COVID connection?
One element that is not sitting well with me is that we are so used to hearing about tens of millions of sharks being slaughtered and that, upon first look, a couple million sharks for squalene doesn’t shock people anymore. It makes me nervous. Even hundreds of thousands of sharks killed per year should shock us. But in our reality the big numbers have become normalized. Will people even care about this issue?
A second, less obvious point has been nagging at me. Yes, the pharmaceutical and cosmetic demand for shark squalene by itself is a concern. But there is something else more sinister, less manageable, lurking in the periphery. My gut feeling has been shaped over many years of watching, learning, reasoning, and strategizing about wildlife conservation issues and seeing how humans justify abusing nature. So, if a bad feeling lingers, I tend to listen.
Here is what I have come up with:
In all this research of shark squalene use, we have been basing our predictions on known data and logical factors. But what scares me are the irrational effects that can grow from this. The unintended consequences. Those are the ones that can get out of control quickly because no one saw it coming. I don’t believe I am spinning a hunch into a conspiracy theory here, this contemplation is based on the horrible track record we have as human beings when it comes to exploiting a crisis and how we deal with superstition and snake-oil-like cures. As a crowd we don’t always react logically. Especially when we get desperate. And what is more desperate than a global pandemic?
Should one of the chosen vaccines be one that happens to be made with shark-based adjuvants, there is a real danger that the context will become distorted. Will the commercial shark fishing industry jump on this opportunity and use it to legitimize catching more sharks for the sake of supplying squalene, to “save humanity,” so to speak? Who is going to fight that argument? Who will care if sharks have to die to save us from the virus? If the sheer number of vaccines needed to satisfy the global demand doesn’t spook us into worrying about sharks, then take that thought one step further and open your mind to the potentially absurd possibilities that we are not yet calculating.
The moment a headline ever comes close to reading “Sharks Help Cure COVID-19.” what will follow will be completely unpredictable. While the point of the article may be about adjuvants, what people will interpret will be another story. The amazing leaps of deduction people will make from simple remarks have been quite evident this year. People have tried drinking bleach and fish tank cleaners to prevent infection, and the list of bizarre treatments only get longer as time goes on. Here are more examples, "11 Absurd Things that Have Happened Because of the Corona Virus."
It may seem paranoid and alarmist, but the proof is ever present. Why did manta ray gills become a sought-after product only in the last twenty years? Because someone that wanted to profit from the animals gave ground up gill plates newly found magical powers. They were not traditionally used for that purpose.
Shark fins do not have a nutritional value and eating them has zero health benefits, but they are a product that is sought after simply because of the “value” people instill in them due to societal beliefs. What about companies hawking shark cartilage supplements? Those products blatantly exploit the belief that sharks don’t get cancer which is false, but desperate customers buy into it thinking if they eat shark cartilage it might help treat their cancer.
No matter how non-sensical it may seem, the leap from “Sharks Help Cure COVID” to “Any-product-made-from-sharks-may-help-COVID” is not a big one to make, for those that want to promote that connection. There is no doubt that the wheelers and dealers of the wildlife products trade would exploit that weakness and happily make up products to fill that need. How long before someone grinds up shark parts as a wonder-cure for desperate believers? And if that happens, who is left to counteract that demand? Are we going to wait until scientists see the problem, do a thorough study of global data, which then has to be published, peer reviewed, fought over and evaluated only to come to the conclusion that maybe the problem is not going to be the logical and predictable data, but it’s the illogical that we have to worry about?
Even if none of this comes true and we only face the issue of shark-based adjuvants, how will we stop the hunting of sharks if they now become essential in treating or curing COVID-19? Considering the scope and the potential profits that are involved in the global production of a vaccine, I believe the shark question is an important one to ask. We may not have to worry about the shark wonder-cure, but when we put sharks into vaccines and don’t question it, then it sends a message that it must be ok. There is no incentive to change. We should be looking for long term solutions that do no harm. Depending on a wild animal resource is not a good choice. Pharmaceutical companies stand to profit massively from vaccines over the next decades. I believe it is reasonable to ask them to test all options.
The scary truth is that it will be left to the advocacy world to deal with this issue. No matter how critical we think ocean health and shark protection is, governments are not really listening. We better roll up our sleeves and get working, because the further we travel down this road of vaccine development without asking the obvious questions, the harder it will be to change. Let’s not wait until this turns into another shark fin or manta gill issue.