Save Our Seas Blogs

An interesting article from National Geographic highlights a surprising yet substantial source of demand for shark products: the manufacture of vaccines, in particular those used against swine flu. Shark livers have high concentrations of an organic compound called squalene, which happens to be an effective immunologic adjuvant. Adjuvants stimulate the immune system to increase the response to a vaccine, meaning that less of the vaccine’s active component is required in order for it to prove effective. Consequently the use of adjuvants is recommended by the World Health Organisation, and they are primarily harvested from commercially fished shark species, including those listed as vulnerable to extinction by the IUCN Red List. (more…)