Haiti is a republic located in the West Indies and is one of the poorest countries in the world.After the terrible earthquake it suffered, it has barely raised its head and 80 % of its population lives below the poverty line.They basically subsist on fishing and agriculture.Perhaps this situation of their population makes it more susceptible to practices such as voodoo and also to the use of herbs and natural remedies .
Why do scientists travel to Haiti?
Since the 1980s, groups of scientists travel to Haiti to study the flora of the country in search of plants that can be used as base for new pharmacological products .They are especially interested in hallucinogenic plants.They want, among other things, to discover the exact composition of the « zombie-creating powders ».

They think that if the complete formula of this substance is discovered, they could obtain a new type of anesthesia that would make the patient pain insensitive and that he kept him paralyzed and that this was completely reversible , because at the end of the operation the patient would return to his usual state of consciousness.They think this could be very useful in certain surgeries.
The composition of zombie-creating powders
Since the early twentieth century, scientists around the world have moved to Haiti to study the zombies and the process that takes them to this state.The zomis of Haiti are real.They are human beings who have been administered some type of poison that has made it appear that they have died, they have been buried and subsequently given some substance that made them "resuscitate" .For the Haitian population, in general, this is « magic « a dead person has been resurrected .As a result of this process the «undead» suffers a type of schizophrenia called catatonic , which causes him to spend periods of great activity and others of inactivity and even catalepsy.

Dr.Davies, an ethnobotanist at Harvard University, investigated the composition of these powders .With the help of Haitian natives he knew that to make them the wizards put lizard , tarantula, some kind of worm and two different types of saltwater fish .Once induced the catatonic psychotic state and taken for dead and buried, the " bokor " sorcerer administers a plant-based antidote that revives the "dead." He returns to life in a zombie state, in which he obeys the total sorcerer Mind you, many times the brain damage by the administration of the poison are irreversible .Among the researchers there is always the question of whether these individuals «zombified» previously suffered some kind of mental disorder , which with the experience of being buried alive and «resurrected», is aggravated.

The powders can be administered in some drink or blown to the affected face.the powders contain among other things tetradotoxin , which is found in the liver of the puffer fish.Also a tropical legume called mucuna pruriens , devil's trumpet (datura metel), estramonio and poison of Rhinella marina , a tropical toad.

The antidote that gives the sorcerer to« revive them »is based on plants that contain atropine and scopolamine.These substances cause a terrible impact on brain neurotransmitters and endorphins, to the point of turning the person into a zombie.

Nature gives us a lot of substances, which despite being potentially dangerous, can be studied and in the long run be the base of new drugs that will help cure or improve diseases hitherto intractable.That is why the "zombie dust" of Haiti awakens so much interest among the scientific community.
If you are interested in zombies, you may want to know with this test if you would survive a zombie apocalypse.
Images: philippe leroye r, staci myers
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