Have you ever heard of kambo? This is the name given to an increasingly widespread practice… which could be dangerous. It involves placing… exotic frog venom on your wounds (yes, you read that right!). In Quebec, secret kambo ceremonies are even organized. But the phenomenon worries doctors. Here’s what you need to know about this wacky story!
Eh ? Venom?!
Kambo is the name of the venom in question. It is produced by a frog found in the Amazon, the monkey tree frog. She uses it to protect herself from predators.
Venom is poison. So when we humans consume it, it makes us vomit and it makes us go to the toilet very, very often (I’ll spare you the slightly disgusting details!). In short: it causes poisoning.
Poison yourself intentionally
Some adults believe that you need to cleanse your body to be healthy. They are, in a way, trying to clean themselves up. This is a belief that is not based on anything scientific, but I will come back to that later.
To cleanse oneself is therefore the aim of kambo ceremonies. These are events where participants poison themselves with frog venom. To do this, they lightly burn their skin and then apply the venom to the fresh wound. All in order to make yourself vomit and go to the bathroom. They are told by the organizers of the ceremonies that these reactions cleanse the body.
Attention danger !
In Canada, all health treatments are reviewed by Health Canada. However, kambo does not not part of its list of authorized substances. It is therefore illegal to sell or promote them.
Quebec doctors advise against the use of this venom. For what ? It can make you seriously ill or cause death. For example, two people died in Australia, in 2019 and 2021, after participating in one of these ceremonies. So it’s not only unpleasant, it’s also very dangerous!
Besides, can you really clean the inside of your body? No, say the doctors. It’s useless… and, as you can see, it can have the opposite of the desired effect: hurt us.
Secret ceremonies
To find out more about this phenomenon, our journalist friends from The gallery created a character, named Alice.
Thanks to this false identity, our colleagues learned that kambo ceremonies are organized in Estrie, Quebec. The price: from $1500 to $1700. Medical authorities in the region are monitoring them. But it’s difficult, because they are kept secret.
Another danger: the organizers ask participants to stop taking their medication two weeks before the ceremony. But it can have serious health consequences, doctors warn.
These are actually bad ideas…
It proves that you shouldn’t believe everything you see on the Internet. And above all, for everything that concerns our health, it is better to seek advice from a doctor!
Camille Lopezaccording to a text by The gallery
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