John,
The red knot, a migratory shorebird, relies on horseshoe crab eggs for sustenance during their 9,000 mile-long journey. But overharvesting of horseshoe crabs for a chemical compound found in their blood threatens this imperiled bird.
Tell the Food and Drug Administration to protect red knots by supporting a wider use of synthetic alternatives to horseshoe crab blood.
Horseshoe crab blood is used to identify bacterial contaminants in vaccines and injectable medicines. Every year hundreds of thousands of crabs are bled, killing up to 30 percent of them. In addition to habitat loss, this unsustainable overharvesting threatens to push the species—and the red knots that rely on them—to the brink of extinction.
Although horseshoe crab blood has served a vital role in testing life-saving vaccines in the past, proven and safe synthetic alternatives provide a brighter future for this prehistoric species and the birds that rely on them. John, will you speak out for red knots and horseshoe crabs today?
As the world ramps up production of vaccines to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, pressure on horseshoe crab populations could increase. But this urgent public health need doesn’t have to harm wildlife: synthetic alternatives have been used safely and successfully in the creation of more than 200 pharmaceutical products. Bleeding horseshoe crabs is no longer necessary to protect human health.
Now is the time for the Food and Drug Administration to support pharmaceutical companies adopting wildlife-friendly alternatives.
