Food, Fibre and Pharmacy.. the many faces of agriculture
When we define what agriculture provides, food and fibre are the first to spring to mind. The medical and surgical uses of agricultural products are not nearly as well known.
Rural Property NSW recently spoke with an industry contact about the less publicised uses of animal products and we thought it time that these products got a bit of credit.
Surgical products
Possibly the most intriguing use of animal products is in the surgical field. Animal heart pericaridums are sent around the world daily from Australian abattoirs to be used as “patches” to repair heart defects (eg the colloquially termed “hole in the heart”), vein and artery defects, spinal disc defects, and even in products used to help close surgical wounds.
Other surgical products include bone graft materials, collagen implants used for plastic surgeries (not just cosmetic) and suture (stitches) material.
Medicines
The array of medicines derived from animal products is unprecedented - vaccines, blood thinners, anti venom and even over the counter products like probiotics are all reliant on animal products.
And lets not forget the use of plant material in medications, with some complex amino acids being derived from plant material. The rise in popularity of hemp oil in off-the-shelf preparations has seen the hemp industry thrive in recent years.
Tablet coatings and capsules
Before any medication can begin to work, it needs to be delivered and most of the coatings on tablets and shells on capsules are derived from animal gelatine. Some plant products are used for this purposes in very specific cases.
In a world where the “war on waste” is a modern catch-cry, it’s comforting to know that our agricultural products are being efficiently utilised and wastage minimised.
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