Weird stuff in TCM...... List it!

[bodhitree]

Flying squierrel (sp?) poop (wulingzi)

Earth Worms (Dilong)

Deer Tails

Locust Shells

Sea shells

What else? I know I'm missing some!

[herb ox]

Cicada skin sheddings (chan tui)
Prepared human feces / urine - (ren huang)
Mouse tail oil for burns
various beetles, centipedes, scorpion (wu gong)
charred human hair (stops bleeding)

the list goes on...

herb ox

[jow yeroc]

Squirrel turds.......whaat?

[bodhitree]

Squirrel turds.......whaat?

yeah, and they look like mouse droppings, so coming from China who knows what you're really getting!

[GeneChing]

I'm not sure why. I'm ok with fungus and I'm ok with bugs. In fact, I have a taste for fried scorpions. But cordyceps - a parasitic fungus off a caterpillar's head? That's just nasty.

[Piercinghammer]

let me have a try at this.

pangalion scales

Snakes... all sorts

Bear gallbladder's

Bear Paw's

pipe fish

bovine gall stones

[-N-]

I'm not sure why. I'm ok with fungus and I'm ok with bugs. In fact, I have a taste for fried scorpions. But cordyceps - a parasitic fungus off a caterpillar's head? That's just nasty.

Bugs...

Dried waterbugs used to treat bedwetting.

Dried bumblebees used with dried plums for sore throat, IIRC.

[diego]

In 1920 physicians would inject sliced monkey testicles into athletes.

[-N-]

Flying squierrel (sp?) poop (wulingzi)

Earth Worms (Dilong)

Deer Tails

Locust Shells

Sea shells

What else? I know I'm missing some!

My mom told me of one when I was a kid.

huang zhong huang

That's when a cow takes a dump, and a dog comes by and craps on top of that.

Don't know what it's used for though.

[GeneChing]

huang zhong huang

That's when a cow takes a dump, and a dog comes by and craps on top of that.

Don't know what it's used for though.

It's used for laowai.

[-N-]

It's used for laowai.

Belly goot foh yoo!!!

[GeneChing]

The price of eternal youth: Protected frogs are DRIED TO DEATH so shops can make traditional Chinese medicine that's supposed to help women 'look beautiful'
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
Hasma, a popular medicinal food in China, is made with frogs' fallopian tubes
The frogs are dried to death so their tubes could be taken at the 'highest quality'
The best Hasma is produced in north-east China from a rare type of wild frogs
Hasma is rich in protein and can supposedly improve women's skin condition
By Tiffany Lo For Mailonline
PUBLISHED: 04:41 EST, 17 November 2017 | UPDATED: 08:18 EST, 17 November 2017

Sometimes, beauty comes with a very hefty price.

In China, protected wild frogs are being cruelly killed so traditional Chinese medicine vendors could turn them into a popular 'anti-ageing' food ingredient.

Hasma, or known as 'xue ha gao' in Chinese, is made with the fallopian tubes of dried-up female frogs and is supposed to help consumers look young.


Cruel: Hundreds of Asiatic grass frogs are hung and dried to death in Jilin, north-east China


Dried to death: Asiatic grass frogs, once captured, are hung up for up to 30 days until they die

The best hasma is made in the north-eastern part of China and comes from Asiatic grass frogs, a protected amphibian species from the forest in the region under the Regulation on Protection of Wild Medicinal Resources.

Shocking pictures have emerged from Chinese media, capturing the production process of the popular medicinal food ingredient.

The photos are taken in Changbai mountain, Jilin Province, on November 7.

They show two full racks of frogs being hung up in front of a common grocery shop. The retailer pierced the frogs by a wire and hung them up until their death.

After the animals are killed, their collagen-filled tubes would be removed from their remains and put on sale in the shop. Their remains are thrown to the bin.

The shop owner told a reporter from iFeng.com: 'The hanging method can ensure that the hasma can be extracted at its best quality.'

Hasma (pictured) is usually sold in boxes in grocery stores or Chinese medicine shops


It's often cooked and eaten as Chinese dessert along with sugar and dried fruits (pictured)

Chen Jianping, an associate professor from the School of Chinese Medicine at University of Hong Kong told HK Economic Times: 'Pure hasma should be made from the fallopian tubes of female Asiatic grass frogs.

'However today, the hasma (on the market) might contain fallopian tubes, ovary or fat tissues from any frog families.'

In addition to the air-drying process, extra steps are apparently taken to the frogs in order to produce the best hasma.

According to Pixpo, when the frogs are captured they are cruelly knocked out with electricity before being hung up for about 20 to 30 days until they die.

Female Asiatic grass frog store rich nutrients in their oviducts before they hibernate in winter


Two full racks of frogs are hung up in front of a grocery shop in north-east China

The same Pixpo report said female Asiatic grass frogs have rich nutrients in their fallopian tubes. The tubes, which contain high protein and oestrogen. In winter when the frogs hibernate, the nutrients become a vital source of energy for the animals.

Hasma has become a precious health supplement for Chinese women, and can be dated back to Ben Cao Gang Mu, a 16th century Chinese herbology masterpiece written by legendary herbologist Li Shizhen.

In particular, pregnant woman believe hasma could help them achieve wrinkle-free skin. In addition, it's thought that hasma could boost women's energy level and stop them from feeling tired during pregnancy.


Hasma is considered as a precious health supplement that are favoured by Chinese women

Regina Lo, 48, a mother of two from Hong Kong, told MailOnline that she consumed hasma as a health supplement during her pregnancy in 2002.

'I used to have it once every week, boil them and pour in milk or sugar and eat it as dessert,' she said.

However, she said she did not experience any obvious change.

'I didn't see any difference, but psychologically I felt my skin got smoother and more glowing.'


Chinese medicine doctors said that hasma has high protein, vitamins and oestrogen


Female grass frogs were hung on wires for 20 to 30 days before being dissected for hasma

Professor Cui Hequan from Henan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine said hasma contains very high medical value, according to a People's Daily Online report.

'Hasma contains high collagen and amino acid which could help consumers get better metabolism, thus it could regenerate new skin and make women look youthful.

'It can also help balance the hormones and boost energy level.'

Professor Cui said hasma is suitable for pregnant woman who wish to provide extra nutrients to their babies, accelerate recovery from child birth and improve their skin condition.

According to The Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China, published by the Ministry of Health, hasma can cure people who suffer from cough, sweating and insomnia.

The report recommended the food to people who have weaker health.

However, Dr Sun Lihong, a professor from Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine said though hasma could beautify the skin, eating too much of it might put the consumers under the risk of cancer.

Dr Sun told a reporter from Yangtze Evening News: 'Medicinal foods of animal origin, such as hasma and propolis (a resinous substance produced by bees), we have to be cautious.'

TCM & Beauty
Weird stuff in TCM
Endangered Species in TCM

[GeneChing]

I never thought this much about cockroaches but clearly it deserves an indie thread distinct now from our Weird stuff in TCM...... List it! thread.

Chinese farmer unleashes swarm of hungry cockroaches to chew through mountain of food scraps
Former pharmaceutical worker says his waste disposal system is an environmentally friendly option to fermentation
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 29 April, 2018, 1:07pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 29 April, 2018, 1:07pm
Sidney Leng
sidney.leng@scmp.com
http://twitter.com/SidneyLeng



A former pharmaceutical company employee in central China has abandoned the corporate world to farm millions of cockroaches to process food waste, China News Service reports.

Li Yanrong’s farm in Zhangqiu district in Jinan, Henan province, houses 300 million American cockroaches that together munch through about 15 tonnes of food waste a day, or about a quarter of the district’s kitchen scraps.

“These cockroaches are not afraid of anything soft, hard, sour, sweet, bitter, or spicy,” Li was quoted as saying.


Li Yanrong says he has 300 million cockroaches at his food waste disposal farm in Henan. Photo: CNSTV

China generates at least 60 million tonnes of kitchen waste annually and most of it is processed through fermentation, an expensive, inefficient system that pollutes the environment, according to the report.

A giant indoor farm in China is breeding 6 billion cockroaches a year. Here's why

Li said cockroaches offered an alternative, non-polluting way of disposing of food waste.

He said he already had about 300 tonnes of cockroaches and planned to expand that total to about 4,000 tonnes to be able to process 200 tonnes of food waste from Zhangqiu and neighbouring cities per day.

The American cockroach is one of the world’s bigger varieties, with a body around 4 centimetres long and a life cycle of around 700 days. It is often used as an ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine to heal wounds and repair tissue.

Cockroach farms have expanded across China in recent years, in large part to cater to medicinal demand.

The world’s biggest is in Xichang, southwestern Sichuan province, where 6 billion adult cockroaches are bred a year for the pharmaceutical industry.

Nearly 28,000 full-sized cockroaches per square foot were produced there annually, the Sichuan government said in a report submitted to Beijing early this year.

[GeneChing]

Asia
Mongolian couple dies of plague after eating raw marmot meat


File photo of a marmot. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Francois Trazzi)

06 May 2019 11:09PM (Updated: 06 May 2019 11:10PM)

ULAANBAATAR: A Mongolian couple has died of the bubonic plague after eating raw marmot kidney, triggering a quarantine that left tourists stranded in a remote region for days, officials said Monday (May 6).

The ethnic Kazakh couple died on May 1 in Mongolia's westernmost province of Bayan-Ulgii, which borders Russia and China.

"The two dead were local people," said local governor Aipiin Gilimkhaan. "There were no cases reported after them."

A six-day quarantine was declared on residents in the region, preventing nine tourists from Russia, Germany and Switzerland from leaving.

"We are all fine. No one is ill," said a German tourist named Teresa, who did not want to give her last name.

Sebastian Pique, a 24-year-old American Peace Corps volunteer who has lived in the region for two years, said he and the tourists were invited to the governor's office on Friday to be informed about the situation.

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"After the quarantine (was announced) not many people, even locals, were in the streets for fear of catching the disease," Pique told AFP.

The quarantine was expected to be lifted late Monday after no other cases of the plague were reported.

Authorities have warned people against eating raw marmot meat because it can carry Yersinia pestis, the plague germ.

At least one person dies of the plague every year in Mongolia, mostly due to consuming such meat, according to the National Center for Zoonotic Disease.

Some people ignore the warnings as they believe that consuming the innards of the large rodent is good for their health.

The Black Death wiped out millions of people in the Middle Ages but cases are now very rare.

Its most common form is bubonic, which is spread by fleas and causes swelling of the lymph node. The more virulent form is pneumonic plague, which can be transmitted between humans through coughing.

Source: AFP/zl

The opposite of 'good for their health'

[GeneChing]

Some European doctors think Chinese medicine should come with a health warning
CNN Digital Expansion 2017. James Griffiths
By James Griffiths, CNN
Updated 8:53 PM ET, Sat November 16, 2019


Workers at a Traditional Chinese Medicine store prepare various dried items, Hong Kong, December 29, 2010.

Hong Kong (CNN)Herbs to increase breast milk supply and heal the spleen. Traditional remedies which promise to cure insomnia and acne. Secret cancer treatments that have been ignored or suppressed by Western medicine.

Practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) have a long history of making outsized claims, not least in the case of fertility and virility, where demand for tiger ***** and rhino horn has devastated wild populations.
Quackery and false claims exist in all branches of medicine, but doctors in Europe are concerned that unverified claims made under the guise of TCM are being spread worldwide by social media, inadvertently aided by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Two leading European scientific and medical bodies say the WHO has legitimized all forms of Traditional Chinese Medicine by including TCM in the upcoming edition of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD), a hugely influential compendium used by health practitioners around the globe.
The inclusion of TCM "may lead some to see it as a legitimization of what are actually unfounded claims," warned the European Academies' Science Advisory Council (EASAC) and the Federation of European Academies of Medicine (FEAM) in a joint statement this month.
"There is risk in misleading patients and doctors and in increasing pressures for reimbursement by public health systems at a time of limited resources," the statement said.
More broadly, there is growing concern that people who turn to the internet for home remedies could expose themselves to serious harm. For example, black salve, which claims to treat tumors but actually burns flesh and can leave people with horrific disfigurements.
"Social media now makes it very easy to get hold of (misleading information)," said George Griffin, a professor of Infectious Diseases and Medicine at St. George's, University of London. "Unscrupulous people who wish to sell these products can easily put things on social media without any formal verification."


A woman mixes medicine in the pharmacy of the Yueyang Hospital, part of the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, in Shanghai on November 7, 2018.

Unscientific medicine

One of the basic principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine, as it is usually defined, is that vital energy, or qi, circulates through channels in the body which connect to various organs and functions. TCM therapies, such as cupping, acupuncture or herbal treatments, seek to activate these channels, or balance someone's qi.
Though the methods have been in use for hundreds of years, critics argue that there is no verifiable scientific evidence that qi actually exists.
While the TCM industry is worth an estimated $130 billion in China alone -- and the country's leaders have thrown themselves behind promoting the practice -- it has until recently largely struggled to gain widespread acceptance outside of east Asia.
The sheer range of claimed benefits of some forms of TCM can be staggering. In a review of acupuncture alone, the Society for Science-Based Medicine, a US-based pressure group, found practitioners offering treatments for everything from cancer, stroke, Parkinson's, and heart disease, to asthma and autism.

A man wearing "walnut" glasses is treated with smoking wormwood to relieve his oculomotor paralysis at a hospital on July 13, 2018 in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province of China.

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