Breakthroughs in science happen all the time. Usually it takes a combination of smaller achievements to hit that monumental moment. And, the quest for answers can easily impact our environment. Recently, the COVID-19 vaccine was a major scientific achievement. Not only did the scientific community come together, but more than one company has been able to manufacture an effective vaccine to this pandemic. It’s a life-saving change in medicine, and one special ingredient has helped make it possible — squalene. Unfortunately, right now, you’ve got to kill a lot of sharks in order to source. Squalene extraction alternatives can preserve more marine life!

Lingering in shark livers

Squalene is an oily liquid found in various quantities in a variety of animals, including humans. You can also find it in certain plants, algae, bacteria, and even yeasts. It occurs in the highest quantities in shark livers. It’s cheap and easy to extract it from sharks, with one caveat. The sharks have to die first.

Squalene Extraction alternatives prevent a huge threat to an already declining shark population. Three million of the sharks killed annually are targeted for their liver oil. It’s unsustainable and cruel to murder sharks for this compound, no matter what its use.

Additionally, squalene only has a shelf life of about two years. Supply from sharks will never keep up with the demand. There needs to be an effective alternative.

Supplying the demand

Squalene has a reputation for having moisturizing, anti-oxidative, and antimicrobial properties. It’s most often used in pharmaceuticals, but also within the cosmetic industry. This puts the ingredient in high demand, which in turn motivates people to illegally fish sharks for their livers.

Since there’s no way to trace a squalene supply back to its source, pulling the compound from sharks can lead to overfishing. This leads to a destructive hit to the population of this keystone ocean predator. Even with their reputation for deadly bites and aggressive behavior, sharks are essential to our oceans.

To save the sharks, there must be squalene extraction alternatives. We need to continue to supply the demand in a more humane way. We need to rethink how to maintain the products the ingredient goes into, like the COVID vaccine.

Pulling squalene from tobacco

Searching for squalene source alternatives has led to heavy interest in tobacco. While growers who use it in tobacco products, like cigarettes, revere a pure plant, with genetic modifications, the plant can also become a great squalene source.

To extract squalene from tobacco, the plant can undergo the same process as hemp does for CBD. It’s a safe, environmentally-friendly process that has high yields when the plants are genetically modified to produce large quantities of the compound.

Tobacco is a great candidate to supply squalene because it grows fast. The genetics are easy to replicate as well, and the compound is easy to extract. With an entire crop of clones, from a perfect tobacco plant, you could produce a massive and lucrative yield of this in-demand ingredient.

This is the power a single plant can have. It can save our shark population all while providing a necessary ingredient to our pharmaceutical industry. Right now, through the COVID vaccine, it can even save you life.

Testing the efficacy of tobacco

With high demand for an alternative source of squalene, there’s a lot of interest in using tobacco. This curiosity extends around the globe. Also, proper testing is taking place to evaluate the effectiveness of using a genetically modified tobacco plant as a primary squalene source.

At Arbor Vita8, we’re taking the necessary steps to test out the potential of tobacco ourselves. We research, test, and evaluate before bringing to you the opportunity to make a profit from an in-demand product. We’re working to stay at the forefront of the extraction industry. From hemp to tobacco, to any other plant in between, we want to offer the right services to our partners that produce the right compounds. Not only that, but each extract we produce at Arbor Vita8 is of superior quality, generated with the utmost care, on the best equipment. We’re the best to make the best. Contact us today to learn more.