Blow Fly Larvae

Eh? Zhin, that cut ya got last week, it's lookin pretty bad. Ya needs ta get ta the docs.
I am fine my friend. I do not need to see the doctor, and I have not the time during the harvest, as you well know.
Zhin, we have a break due to the shadow pass tomorrow, go then.
Very well, friend, for you I will go.
...
Well, Miss, it seems your injury is showing signs of damage from ionizing radiation. This is not uncommon among our farmers. Fortunately we have a treatment available. The simple application of medical maggots, fly larvae, to the wound, to remove the damaged skin, combined with some medication derived from those same larvae to treat the cell damage that remains and clean up some of the other effects. With a few daily wound treatments, and a few weeks of medication we will have you as good as new.
Doctor! Maggots? How could such filthy things be used in medicine? Please, do not tell me this little cut requires such extreme measures.
Miss Zhin. These are not filthy creatures, rather they are carefully bred and husbanded in a carefully controlled environment exclusively for medical use. I assure you that this is the best and most effective treatment possible, and we are fortunate to have this small colony of the creatures; they are highly valuable and we only recently were able to resupply after a loss of our original collection.

Who would have thought that one of the most precious species farmed in the last half of the twenty-first century would be a maggot. With all the advanced technology and science of the early fusion age, this humble, and disturbing to many, insect provides the most reliable source of alloferons, a crucial family of peptides required for medical procedures in microgravity and low gravity environments present throughout the asteroid belt and on Mars, Ganymede, and Titan, along with the smaller outposts in the outer solar system.

The humble larvae of a common, ugly, blue blow fly, Calliphora vicina, were the subject of much research in the early decades of the twenty first century. By the time of The Demonstration in 2045, an entire family of valuable peptides had been identified from these and related species, and a variety of tailored strains were developed to produce specific peptides in high quantities. The fact that the larvae may be useful as an emergency food source, are useful in certain medical procedures for the debridement of necrotized tissues, and are easily stored and fed, makes these creatures ubiquitous among the deep space facilities throughout the solar system. The radiation environment of several important colonies, particularly Ganymede orbiting Jupiter, and both Mars and the many asteroid facilities, create a distinct need for peptides collected from these creatures, some of which act to help heal mild radiation damage and prevent some of the long-term effects of exposure to the harsh environment of deep space.