In the fifties of the last century, more than a dozen one-eyed lambs were born in the Rocky Mountains, in the northeast of the Cordillera, where there are excellent pastures for flocks of sheep.
In the middle of a pretty face, thickly covered with hair, was a Big brown eye, which looked friendly at those around it. Four-legged cyclops were born here in subsequent years, but only recently the reason for their strange appearance became known.
The culprit for the "deviation from the project" turned out to be a herb growing in the Rocky Mountains - skunk cabbage. The Latin name of this representative of the flora in Russian translation is Californian hellebore.
The ugly lambs were born to sheep that ate skunk cabbage in early pregnancy.
Chemeritsa white and black are regulars in the southern regions of Russia, they love to grow in the mountains, but they feel great on the plains, reaching Moscow and Smolensk in the north. Especially often, these plants can be found in the forbs of the Altai alpine meadows.
The high toxicity of hellebore has long been known. Cases of mass death of livestock as a result of poisoning with this herb have been reported. Nevertheless, hellebore was used in scientific medicine, however, only as an external remedy, for example, to combat lice and scabies, as well as with neuralgic and rheumatic salts. The plant was used much more widely in folk medicine. How does the "green saboteur" disorganize the work of the conveyor belt called "procreation"?
We imagine the development of an organism as a genetically programmed process that is always carried out in full accordance with the "general plan". In fact, the need to follow the development regulations very closely makes this process easily vulnerable.
Judge for yourself how complex the “production program” of the “maternity workshop” is, including the multiplication (division) of body cells, their migration to their permanent place of residence, restructuring of cells in accordance with their purpose and the organization of specific relationships between different types of cells.
Promotional video:
It is no coincidence that until recently, experts could not explain why ugly creatures are rarely born in humans and animals. Today science knows the answer to this question. The human body is constantly exposed to various dangerous influences from the outside. As a result of such aggressiveness of the environment, about half of the embryos begin life in the mother's womb as monsters.
Fortunately, most of them die during development, usually before they reach the uterus. And those who do get there cannot be reliably implanted into the wall of the uterus and also eventually cease to exist.
Scientists investigated the condition of embryos that spontaneously expelled from the body of conceived women during the first month of pregnancy. 90% of them turned out to be ugly. In addition, it should be noted that 5% of children born have obvious deviations from the norm. Of course, not all such defects make a child disabled.
The agents that cause congenital malformations are called teratogens. The overwhelming majority of them are capable of disrupting the development of the fetus only during a critical stage, most often a short one, being safe in other periods. Each organ of the body has its own temporary "cell" in the general production cycle.
It is at this moment that he is most vulnerable to teratogens. So, the heart in a human embryo is formed between the 3rd and 4th weeks, disorders in the development of the external genital organs occur between the 8th and 9th seven days.
Teratogens are of several types. Among the most dangerous "saboteurs" is ionizing radiation, which can lead to serious developmental disorders, for example, a significant shortening of the limbs or even the complete absence of arms and legs. In addition, radioactive exposure can cause mental retardation, heart defects, and underdevelopment of testicles in boys, which will not allow them to subsequently experience the joy of fatherhood.
The tragedy that played out in Japan in 1965 became widely known. One of the industrial firms dumped mercury into the lake, and the pregnant women of the village of Minamata, who ate fish from this reservoir, began to give birth to blind children with brain damage.
Many viruses are also teratogens. Women who have had rubella in the first three months of pregnancy often have babies with cataracts, heart disease and deafness. The rubella epidemic in the United States in 1963-1965 resulted in the death of 20,000 children in the womb and the birth of 30,000 babies with developmental disabilities.
Another type of teratogens are poisons of plants and some drugs. We have already talked about the "subversive activities" of skunk cabbage. And here are the other "antiheroes". Quinine, taken by pregnant women, causes deafness in children, alcohol (dose 50-85 grams per day) - a lag in mental and physical development. Hard smokers give birth to small offspring, which with difficulty adapt to changing conditions of existence.
Retinoic acid, an analogue of vitamin A, has also gained a bad reputation, and in large doses it is a powerful poison. A hundred years ago, when Europeans found themselves in the Arctic, they often died eating the liver of a polar bear, where the concentration of this substance is high.
In 1982, in the United States, a drug was created on the basis of retinoic acid, against acne. Doctors already knew about its ability to disrupt the development of the human embryo, so there was an inscription on the drug label warning that pregnant women should not use this drug.
Nevertheless, as shown by a subsequent study, 160 thousand women who are at the age that allowed them to become a mother took advantage of the new tool. Some of the fair sex were already in an interesting position, but did not yet know about it, while others, although they knew about their pregnancy, did not pay attention to the warning of doctors.
As a result, 12 women had a spontaneous abortion, and 21 children were born with deformities of varying severity - from a decrease in the size of the jaws to the complete absence of auricles, a defective thymus (the thymus gland responsible for immunity) and brain abnormalities.
Another drug, thalidomide, which is a weak tranquilizer, is also found to be in the "sabotage". It turned out that it can induce the occurrence of an anomaly, when the long bones of the limbs either do not develop or are severely shortened. As a result, the arms and legs become like the fins of a seal.
It is enough to take one tablet of this medicine for the child to have all four limbs deformed. Seven thousand freak children have been born in the United States due to the use of thalidomide. Deviations from the norm appeared with the use of this drug between the 20th and 38th days after conception. Taking the medicine at the end of this period, starting from the 34th day, does not interfere with the formation of the limbs, but can cause underdevelopment of the auricles.
Annually 200-500 new substances are created in the world and enter the life of people. Doctors do not have time to check half of them for teratogenicity. In addition, tests on mice, rats and guinea pigs do not provide a complete guarantee that the "aliens" are harmless. We need monkeys! And they are very expensive and not always available, especially in recent years, in connection with the protests of the "green" public. Therefore, I urge women to be vigilant. Having decided to have children, stop using new drugs, household chemicals, etc., no matter how attractive their use may seem.
Boris Sergeev, Doctor of Biological Sciences