自由时报

周虹汶

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年轻埃及人在蝎子裡發现财富

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多年前，有个年轻的埃及男子放弃了他的考古学位，在该国沙漠和海岸猎捕蝎子，并提炼牠们的毒液做医药用途。

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年仅25岁的穆罕默德．哈姆迪．比什塔现在是「开罗毒液公司」的老闆—此一计画是在埃及各地农场饲养8万隻蝎子和各种蛇，并保存牠们的毒液。

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用紫外线灯捕抓，这些蝎子被暴露在微弱电流下，来刺激毒液释放，1公克可以製造2万至5万剂的抗蛇毒血清。

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1公克蝎毒可卖1万美元，比什塔出口到欧洲和美国，用来製造抗蛇毒血清及各种其他药物，包括用于高血压等疾病。（路透）

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Young Egyptian finds a fortune in scorpions

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Several years ago, a young Egyptian man abandoned his degree in archaeology to hunt scorpions in the country’s deserts and shores, extracting their venom for medicinal use.

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At just 25 years old, Mohamed Hamdy Boshta is now the owner of the Cairo Venom Company - a project housing 80,000 scorpions in various farms across Egypt as well as a range of snakes, also kept for their venom.

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Caught using a colored UV light, the scorpions are exposed to a tiny electric current to stimulate the release of the venom, one gram of which can produce between 20,000 and 50,000 doses of antivenom.

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A gram of scorpion venom can fetch $10,000 and Boshta exports it to Europe and the U.S. where it is used to make antivenom and a range of other medicines, including for conditions such as hypertension. （Reuters）