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This cobra is highly deadly, but Joel LaRocque can handle it with ease. "He was born with a gift," said his wife, Janice.
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This Copperhead is being "milked" for its venom. Even though no one has died from a Copperhead bite, these snakes can cause extreme nerve and tissue damage once they bite and inject venom.
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"The cure to breast cancer lies in these Copperheads," claims Joel LaRocque.
SENECA — Next time you see a Copperhead snake in your backyard, leave it alone. Not because it has the potential to bite you and cause severe damage, but because one day, it might just save your life.
Joel LaRocque, Seneca resident and avid snake handler and enthusiast, claims the answer to cancer treatment lies in the jaws of these reptiles.
LaRocque was bitten and spared by a deadly Cottonmouth in the late 1960s. He has been intrigued and awed by snakes ever since. His admiration has grown to immeasurable lengths.
Now, he works with numerous cancer laboratories across the world as he freeze dries and ships off Copperhead venom that, one day, could be used to stop the spread of cancer cells and even shrink tumors, he said.
“In the late 1990s, Japanese scientists found that Copperhead venom carried a tiny protein called ‘Contortrostatin,’” he said. “Then in early 2000, scientists at Loma Linda University in California found that this protein can actually halt the spread of cancer cells with early detection.”
So the question is … why on earth aren’t scientists pushing to get this treatment into hospitals and homes around the world?
“It’s the money issue and all the legalities that come along with new treatments,” he said. “Especially ones such as this, that would take so much money away from other treatments like radiation and chemotherapy,” LaRocque argues.
Like LaRocque, Bill Haast, a laboratory researcher at the Miami Serpentarium who has worked most of his 95 years around venomous snakes and understands the potential for venom to “heal,” has been bitten more than 170 times.
To ward off the dangers of their occupation, both men inject themselves with a cocktail of venom once a month to build up antibodies.
“The pain is incredible, but it has really helped me stay healthy and safe from probable snake bites,” LaRocque said.
In the end, he said, it pains him more than anything to know there is an up and coming treatment that could save lives, but isn’t being utilized.
“Sometimes it is hard to swallow that money is so much more important than saving lives,” he said. “But that’s the system that has been installed, and there isn’t much we can do about it.”
After his many discussions with laboratory workers and researchers, LaRocque said he understands the process that needs to be followed when developing a possible new cure, but he can't help but think of the 40,000 or more women who lose their lives to breast and other cancers each year.
“These snakes could literally save their lives,” he said. “It’s just a shame to know you are holding a key to health but this feasible treatment won't hit the shelves for another 25 years or more.”
And even though LaRocque and his wife, Janice, continue to care for snakes and hope to benefit cancer victims in the future, they don’t have nearly the number of slithering pets they once had in Louisiana.
“We were wiped out by Katrina,” he said. “We lost hundreds of our snakes, and it absolutely broke our hearts. We moved to Oconee County just under a year ago and we hope to make a difference nationwide from the beautiful Upstate.”
LaRocque also wants to spread the overall knowledge of snakes to youth in the community.
“We would love to travel to schools and show these kids what to look out for, which snakes to avoid and how to identify them. We just want to give back to the community and I think students and teachers alike would benefit from our presentation.”
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March 11, 2009
9:19 a.m.Report inappropriate content
Sorry, if I see it in my yard, it's a dead snake.
March 14, 2009
1:15 p.m.Report inappropriate content
I do take issue with the column ”Venom cures” in the March 11, 2009 issue. It takes one back to the era of Snake Oil salesmen.
Your report about snake venom relates the finding of one individual. Mr. LaRocque who injects himself with a cocktail of snake venom once a month to stay healthy. The publishing of this article, a full page spread, could lead to serious consequences. Terminal cancer patients can become desperate. Laetrile was a myth perpetuated in the 70’s. Patients flocked to Mexico to undergo treatment. The NIH found not only was Laetrile ineffective, it was potentially dangerous.
Mr. LaRocque mentions “Contortrostatin,” which is a disintegrin that can halt the spread of early cancer. He states “scientists are not pushing to get this treatment into hospitals and homes.” He attributes the lack of treatment using this modality to lack of money and legalities. The truth of the matter is that research is ongoing. PubMed, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, lists 326 articles. Good research and safety take time.
At issue is the very possible outcome of your piece that one or more of your readers would be foolish an injection of snake venom. In Jessica M. Sibley’s article there is no mention of the current ongoing research. She needs to write a follow up and complete the story about snake venom and cancer. Science does not rely on one source. You need to sell papers and I know you want to do so responsibly. Please inform your readers!
Gerald B. Holzman, MD
August 5, 2009
11:43 a.m.Report inappropriate content
Hello Folks:
I would like to take this time to respond to Dr. Holzmans comment. First I do not believe there are any people in this area foolish enough to stick their hand out entising a snake to bite them in hopes of being cured of their afflictions. Second I would like to say that novel proteins derived from snake venom's were responsible for the development of the first batch of Ace inhibitors to be delivered to the masses. Next came Captopril another very popular drug on the market derived from the South American snake family Bothrops. Soon to be on the market in the US if not in use already is "Ancrod", a wonderful drug to treat stroke patients, it to, a gift from the Pit Viper family. OK lets see oh ya, Does anyone take Coumadin, the brand name for Warfarin which I believe is synonymous with Rat poison, well it is on the way out and Exantra is the new drug on the block, it was derived from Cobra venom. I could go on all day.
Listen folks, don't even think of using snake venom as a personal cure, the results could very well lead to a funeral "Yours". I have been working with these amazing animals for over forty years now and the gifts they possess within their venom's are astounding to say the least, however: The common rattlesnake venom contains well over 20 proteins, maybe one, just one has the potential to help mankind while the other 19 may very well kill him. As for a terminal patient becomming desperate, I ask you, who has a better right to be desperate? If a doctor were to tell me I was terminal, I would become desperate from that point on as would most honest people out there.
The amounts of venom I started to inject were pre-measured doses for my weight and it took over eight years to develop the immunity I possess today. I am but one of well over six hundred people in my field who practice this form of vaccination against snake bite. Today, I receive bites quite regularly,(6 per year average) with out incident, and I believe that to be a miracle in itself. But if a sheep can do it maybe I flatter myself a bit to much?
Seriously friends don't do anything foolish no matter what the reason, there is hope for a vast aray of illnesses out there and I believe they could be developed faster then they are now but not enough people are screaming loud enough to give them a push. I wish all a long and happy life and to those who do not believe in my form of wellness, I am 60, smoke a pack a day and can run just as fast as I could when I was twenty, Rock climbing, hiking, swimming, everything I did then, I do now! Good genes I guess, everyone else in my family died in their fifties? go figure.
Joel T. La Rocque
joellarocque@gmail.com