Miracle cures from horseshoe crab ,PANAJI: Scientist Anil Chatterjee spent decades toiling at a lab at the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Dona Paula, to discover that the endangered creature—the horseshoe crab—holds cures for some of the most widespread and dreaded illnesses, including diabetes and leukemia. Between the mid-1990s and 2004 Chatterjee patented nine cures. Today, they all lie dormant. Which is where filmmaker Mike Pandey steps in; the multiple-Green Oscar winner has undertaken the responsibility of propagating Chatterjee's cures—that use the embryonic fluids of the horseshoe crab. He and his protagonist believe the cures have not attracted attention in mainstream medicine only because the findings stand to deeply hurt the multi-million dollar earnings of pharmaceutical companies that deal in drugs that help to regulate diseases. "The horseshoe crab is a relative of the scorpion and the spider, and has remained unchanged for 526 million years. It was originally found only in China, Japan, America and India. Now, there are just 100 left in Japan, and they have been declared a national monument there. In India, they are found only in pockets near Orissa. In my film 'The Miracle of Life', I will use a high-magnification lens and electro-microscope to film the real-time sequence of how horseshoe crab-compounds kill and slowdown cancer cells," explained Pandey. He said that countries like Malaysia are wooing Chatterjee, since his recent retirement, for his priceless cures. Chatterjee explained that to make the cures he first administers a mild shock to a male and a female horseshoe crab. The shock allows them to relax and release the male fluid and eggs respectively. The eggs are then fertilized externally and the sanction to further his project in 1994, when it faced near closure at NIO. "I took the three-minute film and screened it for my seniors during lunch break and caught them by surprise. That helped revive my project," recalled Chatterjee. Another film, 'The Timeless Traveller', by Pandey's son, Gautam, and Doel Trivedi, helped to bring the horseshoe crab under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, as an endangered species. It brought to light the smuggling of the horseshoe crab from India's east coast to other countries using innocent fishermen. Chatterjee's cures, before they were patented, were proven effective by labs at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi; the National Centre for Cell Science, Pune; Agarkar Research Institute, Pune; and UN-lab, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi. "Giant pharmaceutical companies will not allow simple, cheap cures to come out. A handful of people are holding civilization to ransom. We are speaking of brain-drain, but here is a scientist in Goa who can transform the life of billions across the globe. Why is the country not taking it up?" asked Pandey. embryonic fluid, the oldest known, is extracted to make a simple protein. "This protein can regenerate many degenerated cells and also the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas, reversing diabetes. These findings and similar ones that can cure genetic heart defects, leukemia and osteoporosis were demonstrated successfully to get the cures patented. These patents have now lapsed as there is nobody in the country to monitor and protect such vital intellectual property. Parallel research using the horseshoe crab is already under way in the US," said Chatterjee. Chatterjee's association with Pandey goes back nearly as far as the start of his research itself, and it was Pandey who made the three-minute film that helped the scientist acquire the sanction to further his project in 1994, when it faced near closure at NIO.
more