The good face of tobacco: how can help cure us instead of getting sick

The idea is not far -fetched: tobacco has been used as herbal medicine in the past. But now, in the era of genetic engineering, tobacco can be the future of pharmaceutical production on Earth and beyond.

European explorers first found tobacco in America during the 16th century. There, the natives had used it for centuries by inhalation, ingestion or topically, as a treatment for symptoms such as headaches, colds, sores and stomach discomfort.

Tobacco became a panacea in 16th -century Europe, and was prescribed for almost everything.

Its strangest application was probably as a cure for drowning symptoms in the 18th century. In London, next to the Thames river, tobacco smoke enemas kits were kept. If someone fell into the water, he woke up with one of these kits. The idea was that tobacco smoke would provide heat and stimulation.

However, there is not many evidence that tobacco is medicinal by nature and its harminess had already been observed in the 18th century.

Suitable for genetic modification

Many of our modern medications come from plants, such as taxol, which is used in chemotherapies against cancer and comes from the Tejo tree, or Digoxin, a heart medication from digital. These medications are tiny molecules.

But if we want something more complicated, such as a protein -based pharmaceutical product (for example, insulin or vaccines), the necessary equipment becomes much more technical.

Most of these more complex medications are the product of a type of genetic engineering called recombinant technology.

The genetic material necessary to produce, for example, insulin, is combined with the genetic material of a cell. That cell (which can be bacterial, yeast or animal) will now produce insulin in addition to all its own proteins.

It is something very similar to when a child hides a chocolate in the rest of their parents’ purchase.

This technology is extraordinarily expensive (around US $ 2 billion) due to the huge bioreactors required to grow recombinant cells in sterile conditions.

This makes access to this type of pharmaceutical products difficult for low -income countries.

This is where tobacco could make a difference.

Like the recombinant cells we currently use, plants can also be genetically modified to make pharmaceutical products, with the difference that plants only need land, water and sunlight to grow.

Tobacco is the main sheet of leaves that is grown for non -food purposes. It is very susceptible to genetic modification and is an inexhaustible source when it comes to producing proteins, whether own or those we have introduced.

This, combined with its high biomass, makes it the most effective plant for pharmaceutical production.

Although it is originally from America and Australia, it is a resistant plant and can be cultivated throughout the world. Thanks to its ease for genetic modification, tobacco can even become resistant to droughts.

The idea of ​​molecular agriculture is still new, but is beginning to gain strength.

In 2012, the Medicago Canadian company demonstrated the speed of tobacco as a platform for pharmaceutical production. They used tobacco to produce more than 10 million doses of the flu vaccine in a month.

Given that worldwide we can produce 40 million doses of the vaccine per month, this achievement was revolutionary.

There are several ongoing clinical trials studying immunotherapies produced from tobacco for diseases such as HIV and even Ebola virus disease.

A treatment has already received the authorization for emergency use in the US in health workers who returned to the country during the Ebola virus outbreak in 2014.

These diseases disproportionately affect low -income countries and tobacco is already cultivated predominantly in these countries.

Tobacco is even being used to produce cancer immunotherapies. These cancer treatments work stimulating our own immune system to combat cancer cells, with few side effects compared to traditional chemotherapy. However, they are prohibitively expensive, so this platform could make them more accessible.

Smoking has caused a lot of damage worldwide, but the decrease in popularity of cigarettes will cause a new problem: tobacco growers in low -income countries will lose their livelihoods.

So why not reuse these crops?

Medications on Mars?

Oscar Wilde wrote: “Everything has a past and every sinner has a future.” So what is the future of tobacco?

If we think beyond the earth, if we plan to visit or colonize other planets, we will need medicines while we are there.

Tobacco can grow worldwide, why not Mars too? A package of tobacco seeds would occupy much less space in a rocket than an insulin supply for five years, or a complete bioreactor. In addition, tobacco is an infinite source: the seeds are collected and re -plant them.

However, before leaving for Mars, we should address problems here on Earth, and sustainability is one of the most important.

The plants from which we extract medications today, such as Tejo trees, are in danger of extinction.

An emerging field to produce the same medications that we normally extract from these plants is tobacco engineering.

Not only that, but we can also produce expensive spices such as saffron, or flavors such as raspberry, a fraction of cost. Not even heaven is the limit for tobacco potential.