Page 3 of 6 FirstFirst 12345 ... LastLast
Results 31 to 45 of 80

Thread: Endangered Species in TCM

  1. #31
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Canada!
    Posts
    23,110
    I read recently about a mother bear who killed her cub and then herself in a bile farm.

    However, oddly enough, when I looked at the pictures for the story, I couldn't help but notice that none of the bears attendants following this was Chinese. they were all Caucasians.

    So, I wonder what is propaganda, and what is not in regards to these stories sometimes. there doesn't seem to be a lot of cross referencing going on in a lot of it.
    Kung Fu is good for you.

  2. #32
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    桃花岛
    Posts
    5,031
    Quote Originally Posted by Andy Miles View Post
    In the US, many have tigers as pets.. in fact no one knows for sure how many tigers are kept in the US as pets..and evidently they have rights over the animal to keep it in a cage and look at it until it dies, but heaven forbid they use the animal once its died or kill it and eat it or use it for medicine.
    The use of endangered species in the pet, entertainment and medical testing fields in North America IS just as bad as the use of endangered species in the medical products field in China.

    I oppose both practices with equal zeal.

    And, no, I'm not a PETA type, if people want to eat pork, well, there are plenty of pigs on earth. It's just that alpha predators, such as Tigers, Bears and Wolves, and macrofauna such as Elephants and Rhinos serve incredibly valuable roles in the ecosystem. Hauling them out for human expedience is simple arrogance and laziness on our part, and to the detriment of the world.

    As for great apes....

    I'd no sooner keep a great ape as a pet, or experiment on one against his or her will than I would a human. Anybody who has ever had the pleasure of meeting a chimpanzee, bonobo, orangutan or gorilla can testify to the fact that they are intelligent, self-aware, thinking beings who seem, honestly human.

    I oppose slavery and human trafficking. I oppose the trade in great apes for the exact same reasons.
    Simon McNeil
    ___________________________________________

    Be on the lookout for the Black Trillium, a post-apocalyptic wuxia novel released by Brain Lag Publishing available in all major online booksellers now.
    Visit me at Simon McNeil - the Blog for thoughts on books and stuff.

  3. #33
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,947

    Weird plan

    Pink poisoned rhino horns?
    Pink And Poisonous Rhino Horns Could Thwart Poachers
    Randy Astaiza | Dec. 20, 2012, 5:52 PM

    Conservationists in South Africa have come up with a new way to protect the local rhinoceros from poachers: make their horns bright pink and poisonous, reports Popular Science.

    Rhino horns are highly sought for their use in traditional Chinese medicine. A common misconception suggests they are also used as an aphrodisiac, but the tradition in Chinese medicine is actually to take the powdered horn to cure fever and convulsions.

    There is no evidence to support that the rhino horns hold any magical or medicinal properties. In fact the horn is made out of keratin, the same protein that makes up your hair and nails, and the amount of keratin given through the medicine is equivalent to chewing on your fingernails.

    400 rhinos were murdered in South Africa in 2011, and this year the count is up to 200. The problem has gotten so bad that to stop poachers some conservationists are suggesting huge projects such as implanting GPS trackers to follow the rhinos.

    Instead of tracking the animals, The Rhino Rescue Project wants to discourage poachers from killing them by injecting dye and possibly even poison into the rhino's horns. They plan to infuse it "into the horn using a patented high-pressure device," which would make the horn unsuitable and even toxic to humans.

    The high pressure device would not cause any harm to the rhino. Also, the dye they would use is similar to the dye used in ink packs to secure money at the bank, and the poison would be one designed to kill parasites, neither of which have negative side effects on the rhino or other animals in its ecosystem.
    Wait, does that mean in that chewing fingernails in TCM is equivalent to placebo aphrodesiac? Cuz that would explain a few things about nail chewers...
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  4. #34
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,947

    If it's placebo, a counterfeit will work just as well

    I was torn about posting this in either our WildAid Tiger Claw Champion thread or our Chinese Counterfeits thread, but here felt best in the end.
    In Twist, Fake Medicine Could Save Rare Animals
    Mar 26, 2013 03:20 PM ET // by Benjamin Radford

    Fake and diluted ingredients, including herbs and animal parts, are increasingly finding their way into traditional Chinese medicines. Investigators have found many supposedly medicinal powders diluted with everything from flour to corn starch to sand.

    Sometimes the dilutions are the result of cutting corners by manufacturers, but often it’s done by middlemen and retailers seeking to increase their profit margins.

    There is little or no governmental regulation of these medicines, and the problem is getting worse. As one traditional Chinese medicine manufacturer noted, “counterfeiters are posing a great threat, as fake products are made to closely resemble genuine ones.

    Counterfeiters can produce fake medicinal herbs with starch and gypsum powder, or mix dirt or dust with the herbs to increase their weight.”

    Dilution, Inert Ingredients and Placebos

    Many legitimate, regulated drugs and food products contain inert or inactive ingredients or “fillers.” Sometimes these ingredients help delay — or speed up — the body’s absorption of a drug’s active ingredient, for example, while fillers in food may add flavor or bulk, coloring or increase shelf life.

    While some Chinese herbs and medicines have active ingredients and work as promised, many others do not, and their efficacy relies on the placebo effect. Because the placebo effect works when the patient believes a drug or treatment is effective, there are relatively few complaints from consumers themselves. The effectiveness is often the same whether the medicines are real, diluted or fake.

    This is not to say that altered, diluted, or fake medicine of any kind is good, of course. Though most of the ingredients used to dilute drugs are relatively harmless, some can be toxic. In some cases Chinese herbal medicines may even be contaminated with prescription medications.

    A 2002 study in The Journal of Internal Medicine reported that “an analysis of 2,600 samples of Chinese herbal remedies in Taiwan showed that 24 percent were adulterated with at least one synthetic medicine…. The case reports showed that two or more adulterants were present in 14 of 15 Chinese herbal medicines.”

    This may be even more dangerous than having no active ingredient at all because prescription drugs invariably carry side effects and drug interaction warnings that the patient needs to know about. Hundreds of thousands of people may be taking heart medications, anti-anxiety, steroids and other drugs without knowing it.

    Though most traditional Chinese medicine is consumed in China, counterfeit and diluted Chinese drugs are sold and shipped worldwide, including to Africa where approximately 1/3 of malaria drugs were found to be bogus or substandard, resulting in many deaths. Unfortunately, malaria cannot be cured by the placebo effect.

    But there is another twist to the story, because in some cases fake medicine may help save endangered species.

    Endangered Species and Traditional Chinese Medicine

    Demand for body parts — driven by the alternative medicine and traditional Chinese medicine industries — have severely threatened giant manta rays, whose populations have declined globally by about a third in recent years. The problem has become so concerning to marine biologists and conservationists that the Australian government recently enacted a law protecting the giant ray.

    And it’s not just manta rays. Many other animals face similar threats around the world. In Africa, several species of rhinos have been driven to near extinction because of demand for their horns. They horns are claimed to act as an aphrodisiac or even cure cancer. Tigers and bears have also been slaughtered by the thousands, their bones and claws used in dubious alternative medical treatments.

    Ironically, dilution of traditional Chinese medicine may indirectly help reduce the use of these endangered animals: If starch or corn meal can be secretly swapped for rhino horn powder or ground tiger bones, this reduces the demand for these rare animals. The ingredients hold no benefit — and in fact pose a serious risk to wildlife — but old superstitions die hard.

    The real tragedy is that these animals are being killed for myths. If manta ray gill rakers, white rhino horns, tiger bones, bear claws and other body parts could actually cure cancer and other diseases, scientists would be studying them to isolate the active ingredients — without further endangering the animals.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  5. #35
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,947

    fish bladders

    Imperial County man admits smuggling endangered fish for black market
    June 12, 2013|By Tony Perry

    Harvested totoaba fish bladders drying, seized in a smuggling case at the Calexico port of entry. U.S. border inspectors in Calexico have seized 529 bladders since February that they believe were destined for China and Hong Kong.


    Harvested totoaba fish bladders drying, seized in a smuggling case at the… (Associated Press / U.S.…)

    A 34-year-old Imperial County man pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in El Centro to smuggling parts of an endangered species of fish into the U.S. to profit from a lucrative black market.

    Anthony Sanchez Bueno admitted that he smuggled three coolers worth of dried swim bladders from the endangered Totoaba macdonaldi, hidden under ice and fish.

    The smuggling incident, involving 170 bladders weighing 225 pounds, occurred at the Calexico port of entry, prosecutors said. Bueno admitted that he had arranged to take the bladders to a man in Calexico.

    The bladders are prized for use in Chinese soup and can sell for up to $5,000 apiece in the United States, twice that amount paid in markets in Asia, authorities said.

    Authorities have seized 529 bladders weighing 700 pounds since February. The fish travels in shallow waters at the mouth of the Colorado River and also the east coast of the Gulf of California. The swim bladder helps control buoyancy.

    Among its devotees, Totoaba macdonaldi's meat is thought to aid in fertility and skin vitality. Bueno is set to be sentenced in September. The maximum sentence is 20 years in prison.
    Anyone know the Chinese name for these bladders?
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  6. #36
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,947

    Slightly OT...

    Ivory isn't used in TCM to my knowledge. It's just for jewelry and art. Nevertheless it is Hong Kong and China is the main culprit.
    Hong Kong Seizes Smuggled Elephant Tusks
    Tyrone Siu/Reuters


    A customs officer walked on Friday past ivory tusks that were seized by the Customs and Excise Department in Hong Kong.
    By BETTINA WASSENER
    Published: July 19, 2013

    HONG KONG — Customs officials in Hong Kong on Friday announced one of the largest seizures of smuggled ivory ever made in the city — and their fifth since October — highlighting the pervasiveness of a trade that conservationists describe as an all-out crisis for elephant populations in Africa.

    The shipment, consisting of 1,148 tusks weighing in at 4,800 pounds, was worth an estimated $2.25 million, according to a customs department statement.

    The tusks were concealed in a container coming from the West African nation of Togo.

    Rising affluence in Asia has caused demand for ivory and many other wildlife products to soar in recent years, putting many animal and plant species under severe pressure.

    Despite rising awareness and warnings that poaching has pushed some species to the brink of extinction, enforcement and penalties often remain weak, and represent an insufficient deterrent to poachers and smugglers, wildlife experts say.

    In the case of ivory, the demand stems mainly from China, where it is highly prized for its use in ornaments and sells for hundreds of American dollars per kilogram on the black market.

    Tens of thousands of elephants have been killed for their tusks in recent years in Africa, where the revenues from the poached ivory are believed to be fueling conflicts across the continent.

    The fact that the number of large-scale shipments has been on the increase also is indicative of organized criminal involvement, say experts at Traffic, a group that monitors the trade in endangered wildlife.

    Two other seizures made in Hong Kong in the past nine months weighed in at just over nearly 2,900 pounds, while a shipment intercepted last October weighed more than 8,300 pounds. All originated in Africa.

    Hong Kong, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines are the main transit points within Asia for large ivory consignments arriving from Africa, Richard Thomas, a spokesman for Traffic, said in an e-mail on Friday.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  7. #37
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,947

    956 frozen pangolins

    Discovering this would freak me out. They look like some sort of aliens.
    Zhuhai border police seize 956 frozen pangolins in really weird raid


    Zhuhai border police recently uncovered a smuggling ring that was attempting to transport 956 frozen pangolins, weighing four tons, in Guangdong. Pangolins, for those who aren't up to speed on their nocturnal ant-eater relatives, are like large, scale-covered sloths whose armor is thought to cure cancer and asthma as part of Traditional Chinese Medicine. (Spoiler alert, it definitely doesn't.)


    An investigation is ongoing but according to Directory of National Key Protected Wild Animals, pangolins are a "second-class" national protected animal. For severe rare animal smuggling cases, criminals can be sentenced to life imprisonment or even death.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  8. #38
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,947

    Good Forbes article

    Follow the link for the citations.
    8/08/2014 @ 12:47PM 2,610 views
    Extinction By Traditional Chinese Medicine - An Environmental Disaster
    James Conca Contributor

    As China’s massive energy and economic development spawns the largest middle class in history, it’s also creating the largest upper and middle class population on the planet. And they are causing another type of environmental disaster – extinction of endangered species through poaching.

    An epidemic of poaching is sweeping the world (Nature Conservancy) fueled by the rising rich of China and Asia. Endangered species are being killed at an increasing rate for the sole crime of being the core of bizarre cultural traditions. Caught in this frenzy of nasty rituals are animals like the rhinoceros, which as a species may not be long for this world (Save The Rhino).

    Despite entreaties from the United Nations and many western governments, there is a dense silence from the governments on the receiving end of these body parts. We see this over and over in developing countries on every issue from worker rights to environmental destruction. “The West had its way on this, so why can’t we?”

    True. Europe had the original spoiled-rotten rich folks who for centuries could buy whatever, and whomever, they wanted. Then came the United States and its nouveau riche and robber barons who wanted even more trophies of their wealth. Then the Japanese in the second half of the last century did their obnoxious newly-rich stuff. All of these people, and even the not-so-rich, want symbols or rewards for what they see as their achievement in rising to a level previously reserved only for the aristocracy.

    And now the Chinese and other rising economies are producing an even bigger population with disposable incomes sufficient to feed their tastes for the traditions that are forbidden or just expensive, things like mixed bat blood and monkey’s milk, meat of a camel’s hump, or plain old hedgehog’s genitals (Travel and Leisure).


    An epidemic of poaching is sweeping over Africa, paid for by the rising number of rich Chinese and Asians, fueled by the growing energy production from coal. Caught in this frenzy of nasty rituals are endangered animals like the rhinoceros, which as a species may not be long for this world. Source: Save The Rhino

    An epidemic of poaching is sweeping over Africa, paid for by the rising number of rich Chinese and Asians, fueled by the growing energy production from coal. Caught in this frenzy of nasty rituals are endangered animals like the rhinoceros, which as a species may not be long for this world. Source: Save The Rhino

    I don’t mean to imply that cultural differences reflected in unusual customs are necessarily primitive or horrible but…uh, actually I do mean that. Traditions concerning ingesting rare things like powdered rhinoceros horn or the eggs of endangered sea turtles are primitive and horrible.

    Many of us thought that the rise of Viagra would reduce the poaching of many of these animals. But we were wrong in our assumption that most of these body parts are used as aphrodisiacs. They’re used as medicinal cures for a host of ailments, real or imagined.

    Powdered Rhino horn in Traditional Chinese Medicine is prescribed for fevers and convulsions, typhoid, rheumatism, gout, headaches and hallucinations, vomiting and food poisoning, as well as good ole possession by the devil (Compendium of Materia Medica by Li Shih-chen, A.D. 1597).

    But Rhino horn is made of keratin, meaning it’s just as effective as grinding up your own fingernails and eating them. (Note to self – might be a good business strategy for when rhinos are gone)

    Studies have shown that all of these medical claims for all of these rare body parts are false and useless. But this has not stopped TCM from getting its own “scientific” journal, the Chinese Medicine Journal. This new journal is published by BioMed Central which is owned by Springer Verlag, a science publishing giant who has decided that embracing a new huge audience is more important than rigorous scientific integrity or the preservation of endangered species.

    To the millions of people who practice Traditional Chinese Medicine, rhinoceros horn is a medical necessity, they believe it works and are willing to fund the poachers as effectively as any drug cartel. The dwindling number of rhinos only increases the price and ensures their extinction.

    An even more tragic example is death by association. The extinction of the Vaquita marina, the world’s smallest porpoise and Mexico’s only native marine mammal, is imminent. But not because anything about them is poachable (Tri-City Herald). These creatures get caught in Mexico’s northern Sea of Cortez during the illegal gillnet fishing for totoaba, a huge fish whose swim bladder is highly valued by Chinese chefs, and is itself protected.

    One totoaba bladder brings more than $10,000 in Asia. So it’s no wonder that the poachers simply kill the porpoises and leave them to rot. Since there are only 100 individual Vaquita left, they will be gone forever in just three or four years. You’d think the Chinese government would outlaw this cuisine just as a matter of principle, but no one ever accused the Chinese of being nature-lovers.

    We all know that the wealthy are more likely to be selfish (The Guardian), but this type of narcissism is beyond the normal pale of destructive human behavior. I understand clearing old growth forests to plant crops – it’s counter-productive and wrong, but I understand it if people’s livelihoods are at stake – but to extinct noble beasts because you’re worried about erectile dysfunction or a cough is beyond belief and should be punishable by having to rot in prison or becoming premature organ donors themselves. This planet doesn’t need stupid selfish humans to strain an already stressed-out Earth.

    But poaching doesn’t just kill beautiful animals that will never return to this world, it threatens the lives and communities of people who live near them (Nature Conservancy). Poaching creates corruption and crime. It drives away tourism whose renewable income far exceeds the one-time pay-off from killing an animal.

    Why is this suddenly an issue with China? Because they only recently developed sufficient energy production to power the magnitude of wealth necessary to devastate whole species on a lark.

    Middle class wealth directly evolves from energy development, which directly comes from infrastructure investment. It takes between 3,000 and 6,000 kWhrs per person per year to have what we consider a good life, to get into the middle class (United Nations Human Development Index).
    continued next post
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  9. #39
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,947

    continued from previous


    The United Nations Human Development Index shows the direct and strong relationship between access to energy (equivalent to electricity in kWhrs/year/person) and quality of life. It requires at least 3,000 kWhrs per person per year to have what we consider a good life (HDI > 0.9), and about 6,000 kWhrs per person per year to be fully in the middle class. Note that China is a combination of 500 million people who have only recently entered the middle and upper class and 800 million people still in abject poverty. But that is going to change fast. Source: United Nations Development Program

    The United Nations Human Development Index shows the direct and strong relationship between access to energy (equivalent to electricity in kWhrs/year/person) and quality of life. It requires at least 3,000 kWhrs per person per year to have what we consider a good life (HDI > 0.9), and about 6,000 kWhrs per person per year to be fully in the middle class. Note that China is a combination of 500 million people who have only recently entered the middle and upper class and 800 million people still in abject poverty. But that is going to change fast. Source: United Nations Development Program

    It doesn’t matter whether you were a the 17th century nobleman getting the equivalent of 3,000 kWhrs/year off of backs of ten slaves, five indentured servants, four cows and three horses (a great calculation for the student) or you are the reader of this post, getting about 10,000 kWhrs/year off the backs of coal and gas with a little hydro, nuclear and renewables. It just takes sufficient energy to have food, shelter, health care and not spend six hours a day carrying water back to your hut.

    Prior to the development of our modern energy resources, and the infrastructure to use them, there was no middle class. The aristocracy and wealthy merchants got that energy by exploiting animals and other humans. Then came 1850 and coal. It took about 20 years for Britain to set up the infrastructure, but by 1870, there were 10 million middle-class Brits. And they did not have to own anyone to get there.

    It took the United States over 80 years starting in 1890 to grow the 200 million middle class Americans that made us the greatest nation on Earth. But beginning in 1992 with a plan to build 600 coal-fired fired power plants, China took only 20 years to grow 500 million middle class Chinese. This rate of energy and wealth development is staggering, and is why the global financial structure is beginning to shift East.

    China’s present energy expansion will be even bigger, and is meant to bring the 800 million Chinese remaining in abject poverty up into the middle class. Barring some bizarre event, which is possible in any authoritarian government, this will happen before mid-century. At that point, China’s GDP will pass ours, their conventional military will be enormous, their dominance of Asia and the Pacific will be uncontested, and they will be everyone’s biggest worry.

    But it is the collateral development of the rich that fuels the type of environmental harm that destroys whole species. China has 170 billionaires and over a million millionaires, still lower than the United States and Japan, but that will change over the next generation (USA Today). And it’s these people that think nothing of paying for a meal that has a $10,000 swim bladder in it. This is a vicious circle because the very wealthy are the very people who can stop this destruction and death. But they are the very ones that are making it worse.

    It doesn’t appear that international awareness and pressure is doing much. It really will take a cultural change on the part of the Chinese people. I hope it happens before we lose all these wonderful animals.
    The symbolism of rhino horn as an aprhodesiac is so obvious, but (and not to make light of this situation) it makes me wonder why there was no rhino style in Kung Fu.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  10. #40
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,947

    Pangolins

    457 dead pangolins seized in Guangdong, 4 suspects arrested



    Not again! Guangdong police received a report this week about 457 dead pangolins, or scaly anteaters, that were found in Shijing Town. A total of four large fridges full of pangolin bodies were seized and four suspects were arrested, according to Tencent News.



    All the dead bodies were placed in a morbid spread on the ground of a room, with the largest weighing more than 20 pounds. We hope one of these fellows wasn't among them.



    A pangolin is a rare, scale-covered mammal whose armor is believed to cure cancer and asthma, as well as other ailments, in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

    A sergeant involved in the operation revealed that they were tipped off by other citizens.

    [Images via Tencent News]

    By Christy Lau
    There was a great article in NG on pangolins recently. See The Luckiest Pangolin Alive: THE STORY OF A LITTLE PANGOLIN WHO’S MAKING A BIG DIFFERENCE by SIMON ESPLEY, 5 September, 2014
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  11. #41
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,947

    Pangolin bust

    Thousands of smuggled pangolins confiscated in smuggling bust


    Guangdong authorities confiscate thousands of smuggled pangolins PHOTO/ Chinanews.com

    November 3, 2015

    Authorities in China’s Guangdong Province have busted a smuggling ring and confiscated 2,674 pangolins, Xinhua reported on Tuesday.

    Photos taken on September 14, show dozens of pangolins without their scales, lying on the floor inside a fishing vessel. The police were on an anti-smuggling boat patrol on the Pearl River near Yamen, when suddenly they spotted the suspicious vessel.

    414 boxes of frozen pangolins were discovered on it.



    This is China’s biggest trafficking case involving the species in recent years.

    The authorities arrested two suspects on the boat. According to Xinhua, the two received the shipment of smuggled pangolins in international waters, and were promised 10,000 yuan ($1,580) reward each, if they managed to deliver the pangolins to the predetermined destination.

    Pangolins are listed as second-class state protected species in China. But despite being officially recognized as endangered, the species is subject to smuggling, as their meat is considered a delicacy and their scales are believed to have medicinal qualities.


    PHOTO/ Chinanews.com

    Story from Xinhua and CCTV.

    Watch us live anywhere at http://www.cctvamericalive.com
    Follow us: @cctv_america on Twitter | CCTVAmerica on Facebook
    2,674 pangolins. That's a lot of pangolins.
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  12. #42
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Location
    Tampa, FL
    Posts
    104
    Years ago before the ban, one could buy and use the scales. Many dit da jow formulas used them. I do not use any endangered species.

    Sickening images.
    Dr. Dale Dugas
    Hakka Mantis
    Integrated Eskrima
    Pukulan Cimande Pusaka Sanders

    All for Use
    Nothing for Show

  13. #43
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    CA, USA
    Posts
    4,900
    Those images are absolutely disgusting. And sad.

    I recently saw a program where criminal gangs are poaching rhinos and elephants in protected reserves in Africa. They fly over in helicopters and massacre the animals with high-powered rifles, land, then take out the horns or tusks, then leave the carcasses to rot. The ultimate destination of these horns and tusks are to China. These animals are not only innocent but also highly endangered. I try not to think about it, because it gets me so mad. And to add further insult, whatever concoctions those rhino horns are used for are quack 'medicines'.

    Whether or not you agree with Sea World's orca shows, what's going on in Africa, Asia and elsewhere to endangered animals for the sake of $$$ and quack Chinese 'aphrodisiacs' is far, far more insidious and destructive. So what the hell is PETA doing to stop this wholesale slaughter? Or are organized poaching gangs not a soft enough target for them to take on?
    Last edited by Jimbo; 11-09-2015 at 04:58 PM.

  14. #44
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Corner of somewhere and where am I
    Posts
    1,322
    Quote Originally Posted by Jimbo View Post
    Those images are absolutely disgusting. And sad.

    I recently saw a program where criminal gangs are poaching rhinos and elephants in protected reserves in Africa. They fly over in helicopters and massacre the animals with high-powered rifles, land, then take out the horns or tusks, then leave the carcasses to rot. The ultimate destination of these horns and tusks are to China. These animals are not only innocent but also highly endangered. I try not to think about it, because it gets me so mad. And to add further insult, whatever concoctions those rhino horns are used for are quack 'medicines'.

    Whether or not you agree with Sea World's orca shows, what's going on in Africa, Asia and elsewhere to endangered animals for the sake of $$$ and quack Chinese 'aphrodisiacs' is far, far more insidious and destructive. So what the hell is PETA doing to stop this wholesale slaughter? Or are organized poaching gangs not a soft enough target for them to take on?
    While this is a thread related to TCM and the obvious place to point a finger would be at China, do keep in mind that behind China, it is the US that is 2nd or 3rd (depending on estimate) in imports of illegally harvested animals and animal parts (mainly ivory). And frankly, its a problem we (the developed world) created. If we (our corporations) actually paid people in these countries the true value of the resources we strip from their lands, then there wouldn't be so many impoverished individuals willing to take the risks associated with poaching. The main difference between China and everyone else is in who is driving the demand and which species are being targeted.

  15. #45
    Join Date
    Jan 1970
    Location
    Fremont, CA, U.S.A.
    Posts
    47,947

    More than dog and cat...

    Must chase down this U of A study and find out what the 25 popular products are.

    4 FEB 2016 - 12:34PM
    Chinese remedies use endangered species

    A University of Adelaide study has found DNA from endangered species including snow leopards and tigers in Chinese medicines sold around the world.
    Source: AAP

    4 FEB 2016 - 11:48 AM UPDATED YESTERDAY 12:34 PM

    Traces of endangered animals including tiger and rhinoceros have been found in traditional Chinese medicines sold worldwide, an Adelaide pathologist says.

    DNA has been found in more than 25 popular products, and includes traces of snow leopard in an arthritis treatment for sale in South Australia, University of Adelaide study author Professor Roger Byard says.

    "We thought herbal products would contain herbs. I think that was our naivety. When we found dog and cat, we thought this could just be contaminant, this can be explained. But to find endangered species was quite alarming," he told AAP on Thursday.

    "Rhinoceros horn is used to `cure' disorders ranging from cerebral hemorrhage to AIDS, selling for as much as $US50,000 ($A69,640) per kilogram.

    "The powered bones of tigers and mole rats are used to treat arthritis; shell extracts of freshwater turtles are used to treat cancer."

    Prof Byard said it was hard to tell just how many people were unwittingly consuming endangered animals on their quest for health - and not just in developing countries where such products were common.

    "Our feeling is if can turn up in one of 26 (traditional Chinese) medications in Adelaide, in bigger cities like Sydney or Melbourne, this is just the tip of the iceberg," he said.

    Prof Byard also said authorities often overlooked the role of traditional medicines in the illegal wildlife trade.

    "Clearly any controls on the import and sale of such a preparation have failed. It is also unclear what steps are taken by authorities once such a preparation is bought to their attention," he said.

    "This illegal and very damaging trade needs to stop. However, unfortunately, for a number of species, it may already be too late."
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •