[lbo-talk] Kenneally, some notes and background

[Dennis Claxton]

At 03:34 PM 6/12/2009, Michael Smith wrote:


>Large quantities of arsenic will kill you. Is this environmentally
>determined? Or determined by some complicated intersection of biological
>and social factors? In what society has it ever not been true? In what
>future society might it not be true?

Arsenic is one of the most toxic elements that can be found. However, regular
ingestion of small amounts of arsenic can eventually allow the body 
to tolerate quite
large doses. The villagers in an isolated region of Chile are immune 
to arsenic
because their water supply contains 600 ppm of arsenic, and they show 
no signs of
arsenic-related diseases.

https://www.wlu.ca/documents/14614/CH226_Lecture18.pdf

http://books.google.com/books?id=j-Xu07p3cKwC&pg=PA45&lpg=PA45&dq=%22immune+to+arsenic%22&source=bl&ots=lsPZkBa0Op&sig=--7FcmoMMexDwskkvrIVqcd7WMM&hl=en&ei=TtsySve_M6XYswPJ5OHpBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7

Human immunity against snake venoms is one of the oldest forms of 
vaccinology to date (about AD 60, Psylli Tribe). Since then many 
humans and tribes have attempted to immunize with snake venom to 
achieve immunity [3] Charles Tanner and Herschel Flowers were studied 
with dried snake venom and achieved strong immunity(1).Joel La Rocque 
self injected Eastern diamondback venom and developed a high IgG 
neutralizing antibody for several rattlesnake species.Harold Mierkey 
has done so for years. Tim Friede was studied twice with a 
self-directed vaccine experiment using pure venom and achieved very 
high IgG neutralizing antibodies with mamba and cobra venom(1). The 
present goal is to develop a DNA-based vaccine for the Old World 
using the genes that encode the venom with an electroporation device 
for DNA delivery(1). If successful, some of the over 100,000 people 
that die from snakebite in the Old World will be saved. (1,2)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_venom