The Washington Times published an editorial today advocating that a French pharmaceutical company be denied access to the U.S. market because it allegedly sold “raw botulinum toxin” to Iran. The company, Ipsen, is seeking to market two Botox-alike cosmetic drugs, including Dysport, in the United States that are pending FDA approval, and the newspaper is arguing that the FDA-approval should be withheld because of these sales. In that regard, the editorial endorses legislation introduced this March by Sen. Sam Brownback, and targeted at Ipsen, which would prohibit FDA approvals of drug applications by companies that sold in Iran products that “contain” botulinum toxin.

In researching these allegations by the Washington Times, it became clear that not everything in the editorial adds up. First, there is no substantiation of the claims that Ipsen is selling raw botulinum toxin to Iran. Rather it appears that the concerns that led to questions about approving Ipsen’s products for the U.S. market arose from this report documenting Ipsen’s sale of Dysport to Iran, which although it contains small amounts of Type A Botulinum toxin can’t be accurately characterized as “raw” botulinum toxin. In fact, Dysport is the most widely used Botox substitute in Iran. The low concentrations of the toxin in the drug make it an unlikely choice as a building block for a biological weapon.

Production of raw botulinum toxin is quite easy. Recipes can be found on the Internet and require only basic media to grow the toxin. And there is substantial evidence that Iran has already produced botulinum toxin as part of its CBW program. In light of this, it seems unlikely that cosmetic preparations containing botulism toxin can make a significant contribution to Iran’s bio-weapons program. Or that Iran would even buy raw botulism toxin for its bio-weapon program on the open market.

Other statements in the editorial suggest that the Washington Times might be playing somewhat loose with the facts. For example, the editorial states:

Botulinum is one of the most lethal biological agents in the world. Under certain circumstances, a single gram can kill more than a million people.

Compare this with the following statement from the somewhat more authoritative Journal of the American Medical Association‘s article on botulism as a bioterror agent:

Botulinum toxin is the most poisonous substance known. A single gram of crystalline toxin, evenly dispersed and inhaled, would kill more than 1 million people, although technical factors would make such dissemination difficult.

There are plenty of things that other countries are selling to Iran that should give rise to some concern. Crow’s feet medicine isn’t among them.

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Copyright © 2009 Clif Burns. All Rights Reserved.
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