Crab Wars: A Tale of Horseshoe Crabs, Bioterrorism, and Human Health
Surviving almost unmolested for 300 million years, the horseshoe crab is now the object of an intense legal and ethical struggle involving marine biologists, environmentalists, US government officials, biotechnologists, and international corporations. The source of this friction is the discovery 25 years ago that the blood of these ancient creatures serves as the basis for the most reliable test for the deadly and ubiquitous gram-negative bacteria. These bacteria are responsible for...
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Scientists, entrepreneurs, and environmentalists collide in a battle over the horseshoe crab and the lucrative biotech industry based on its blood.
PrefaceAcknowledgmentsPt. IEarly LessonsIntroduction3Ch. 1A Day in the Life of a Hunter-Gatherer5Ch. 2Carl Shuster: [July 14, 1953]12Ch. 3First Lessons: [Boston Children's Hospital, 1956]19Ch. 4At an Ancient Orgy: [June 21, 1957]25Pt. IICommercializationCh. 5The Conversation: [Woods Hole, 1962]33Ch. 6Bleeding the Crab: [1969-1974]37Ch. 7Crabs and Ponies: [Chincoteague Island, June 22, 1972]44Ch. 8"Flugate": [1976]48Ch. 9Confessions of a Horseshoe Crab Farmer: [Cape Cod, 1982]53Ch. 10A Garden Party: [Charleston, South Carolina, 1985]59Pt. IIIEnvironmental ConflictsCh. 11Fishing for Bait: The Conch and Eel Fisheries: [Delaware Bay, 1990-2000]67Ch. 12A Day at the Beach: Red Knots and Horseshoe Crabs: [Reed's Beach, New Jersey, May 29, 1985]73Ch. 13The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission: [Washington, D.C., 1996-1999]77Ch. 14Jay Harrington vs. Bruce Babbitt: [Pleasant Bay, 2000]86Ch. 15A Bizarre Incident: [May 23, 2000]92Ch. 16The Decision: [John Joseph Moakley Federal Court House, Boston, Massachusetts, May 22, 2001]98Ch. 17The Loophole: [Falmouth, Massachusetts, June 2001]103Ch. 18Raw Lysate: A New Industry: [Chincoteague, Virginia, July 30, 2001]108Ch. 19Numbers, Numbers, Numbers: [Delaware Bay, September 28, 2001]114Ch. 20Pleasant Bay: [October 2, 2001]119Postscript121Index123
\ From the Publisher"In this unusual alert to species depletion, Sargent's heartfelt concerns for the horseshoe crab illustrate the human side of scientific inquiry."--KLIATT\ "A popular interest book about how a 300 million year old organism became essential to the modern pharmaceutical industry. Sargent traces the discovery of horseshoe crab blood as the perfect in-vitro test for gram-negative bacteria through the development of a multi-million dollar business. He recounts the battles between multinational pharmaceutical companies to "bleed" enough crabs for Limulus lysate and the demand for crabs by the bait fishery. Regulation of the fishery by individual states complicates the issue of preserving this natural resource."\ --Northeastern Naturalist\ "[M]akes for fascinating reading . . . Crab Wars offers a compact introduction to the horseshoe crab and the controversy it has recently engendered."--Journal of the History of Biology\ "Sargent...has crafted a surprisingly engaging tale ... Crab Wars makes for a helpful -- and entertaining -- case study." --nationaljournal.com\ \ \ \
