One would think that a synthetic could be made that would be comparable. Sam Melomo pushes lube guard and brings up whale oil.
They did, it just took a while. That was in 86.
In the interim there were some problems, but most of that iron has long since been crushed, melted, and come back as Chinese stuff.
FWIW I've had good luck with Lubegard "red" for fixing the TCC chatter on my Caddy. It's definitely beyond "snake oil" LOL