Shellfish could be used in war on terror

The war on terror could have an unlikely ally in a modest mollusc known as the quahog.

Researchers who injected the clams with enough botulism toxin to kill 1,000 people found the shellfish somehow neutralised the enzyme, which is considered a potential bioterror agent.

“Botulism activity was cut in half by the blood of the quahog,” said Dr Bal Ram Singh.

“So we think there is some sort of antidote in this blood. If we are able to get that molecule – and this is a long process – that might be very useful for human beings.”

Dr Singh, a Massachusetts chemist who has been searching for a botulism antidote under a grant from the US Department of Homeland Security, started with small amounts and increased the injections until scientists were pumping the shellfish with a milligram of the toxin.

But the botulism, a muscle relaxant, had little effect on the quahogs. The researchers noticed that the water the shellfish were in became cloudy, a sign that they were secreting mucous.

“We could inject a quahog with enough poison to kill 100,000 people, and it wouldn’t die,” Singh said. “Something in the quahog appears to destroy enough of the toxin in order to survive it. There will be more to this story.”