In one of my ascetic retreats in a village I met a Rastaman who told me about this. So I have known it for some three years and don't mind. I still consume my 'gogb3'.
I heard Mr. Odame on radio today and as much as I admire his call for caution regarding how the information is spread, I REALISED THE INSTITUTION HE HEADS HAS A LOT TO DO WITH BEING PROACTIVE; it seems to lack the requisite knowledge so is NOW sending out officers to production centres to verify? verify what -that the practice is not true or what? MR. ODAME it is True. IS IT HARMFUL? LET'S FIND OUT. Clearly the FDA of Ghana doesn't READ! yet they may not employ me because i read history and they claim to need scientists. Let's see!
Â
‪#‎Millipedes‬
Millipedes are arthropods of many species and group.
Some of the ‪#‎Species‬ are polycenus fascicutatus, glomerida, helminthymopha, and leonardesnus injucundus.
Some of the ‪#‎groups‬ are the glomeridans, juliform, polydesmid (which has some 3,500 species) and the Apheleloria millipedes.
‪#‎Africa‬ has the African Black Giant millipede (Archispirostreptus gigas) which is, one of the, biggest in the world and preferred as pet in the West. Other are T. Falcatus, Sheribongensis and spirostreptide which are found in Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali etc.
‪#‎Feeding‬
Millipedes eat "plant matter and organic debris"
‪#‎Defense‬ and ‪#‎Chemical‬
The millipede coils and/or secrets a ray of chemical to protect itself or keep itself clean.
These chemicals include:
Hydrogen cyanide (HCN), Hydrochloric acid, alkaloids, quinones, ketones, terpenes, esters, phenols, benzoquinones, benzaldehyde, etc
FOODS ALREADY CONTAINING SOME OF THESE CHEMICALS.
‪#‎Hydrogen‬ cyanide.
Cassava, lima beans, almonds, peaches, elder berries, black elder, apricot, cherry pits are some foods which have HCN naturally. Cigarette smoke also has it.
According to the ‪#‎FAO‬ it's not harmful to humans (mammals) in its reasonable dose because when consumed by Mammals it converts to thiocyanate which is far less toxic (Lehmann, 1959).
And a laboratory research on rats confirmed it (Howard and Hanzal, 1995).
HCN has been approved for the fumigation of dry foods for decades and FAO states that "these results indicates that residues of HCN in fumigated foods, which would normally be far less than the amounts used in these tests, would be of no hazard to human consumers" -'Manual of Fumigation for Insect Control....', www.fao.org
Do all millipedes even have HCN? The Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen and six other research institutions say: "We do not have any strong evidence that T. Falcatus and Sheribongensis actually produce hydron cyanide nor that the spirostreptide in question produces Quinones".www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2014/651768/
~"Millipedes as Food for Humans: Their Nutritional and Possible Antimalarial Value -a First Report"~
Possible reason I am Malaria resistant? I CONSUME LOCALLY/TRADITIONALLY MADE PALM OIL PAAAAAA!!
WHY DO THE INDIGENES ADD it to the oil?
To preserve the taste of the oil (NOT TO GIVE IT ONE) and its shelf life. THEY WERE AHEAD OF MODERN SCIENCE IN THIS KNOWLEDGE OF THE MILLIPEDE'S use.
More dangerous laboratory-made versions of these natural chemicals are in ALL THE PROCESSED FOODS. THEY KILL YOU just as natural Sugar doesn't but artificial sweeteners do!! LET'S BE WORRIED ABOUT WHAT'S IMPORTED AND SOLD IN OUR MALLS RATHER!!
THOSE KNUST STUDENTS by their laziness ARE PATHETIC THREATS TO OUR SANITY. They are science students researchers? NO THEY JOURNALIST!! And Journalists in Ghana too hastly published it.
Abeku Adam