Something you should know for the next time you receive an injectable medication

[CptStern]

The horseshoe crab plays a vital, if little-known, role in the life of anyone who has received an injectable medication. An extract of the horseshoe crab's blood is used by the pharmaceutical and medical device industries to ensure that their products, e.g., intravenous drugs, vaccines, and medical devices, are free of bacterial contamination. No other test works as easily or reliably for this purpose

wtf

http://www.horseshoecrab.org/med/med.html

 

[morgs]

No wonder that vaccine made me crabby.

 

[Stylo]

Horseshoe Crabs are awesome. Though they do remind me a lot of Facehuggers from alien if you look at them from the underside.

Spoiler

Still, stuff like this doesn't bother me. I mean, modern advances in Science have to come from somewhere and if that's the blood of crabs I'm all for it.

 

[StarBob]

That blood looks like it should be some kind of drink.

However it's not all that surprising that a crab that's survived millions of years without much need for evolution has blood that protect from bacteria.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

That's cool I guess

 

[Remus]

Light blue blood? Now I've seen everything.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

When Stern gets bored, he goes to horseshoecrab.org

 

[LibDem]

That's pretty interesting.

Waits until PETA says something.

 

[Emporius]

It also makes a light, refreshing summertime beverage!

 

[ríomhaire]

That's pretty cool. I hope their killed painlessly though.

 

[Dan]

read the article, they aren't killed at all, just bled

 

[Ennui]

It also makes a light, refreshing summertime beverage!

LMFAO. This was exactly what popped into my head when I saw the picture in the OP. AUNT BERU'S MAGIC BLUE DRANK

 

[Bad^Hat]

Despite that picture looking like something from District 9, this is pretty neat.

 

[Link]

I didn't read the full article, but from the quoted part, it appears to be suggesting the blood is used to test the vaccine, not added to it.

I kinda get the impression that people think they are being injected with crab blood (Or is it just me?)

 

[Schall]

There were 100's of dead horseshoe crabs on a beach where I vacationed last year. There were also a shitload of HUGE jellyfish and a few giant Stingrays(they were in the water, laying on the sand). Shit was cash.