Chinese medicine and (sometimes endangered) animal ingredients
You may have heard of the recent raid in Wisconsin (US) of a home suspected of harboring contraband bear bile. Bear bile? Yes, bear bile.
In Chinese herbal medicine, included animal ingredients are also considered to be “herbs” insofar that they are natural substances that have a medicinal effect. This includes shells, bones, organs, whole bodies (of, for instance, lizards) and various items the animals expel more or less willingly (dung, for example). For many Westerners, this is unbelievably gross. However, these herbs are often very effective and certainly no more worthy of disgust than some of the poisons peddled by pharmaceutical companies as medicine today.
The market for the most fanciful, and from some perspectives the most effective, of these ingredients has become a black market. This is because many of them are derived from animals that are now or soon will be endangered. To be fair, it isn’t because the items are Chinese herbs that the animals have become endangered - at least not entirely. Most of these animals are endangered because of other human activity. Being in the materia medica just doesn’t help.
Scrupulous practitioners will not use these endangered herbs. There are alternatives, though most of them require a much higher dosage to be effective. This should be no deterrent to a practitioner - we should always seek to do our best to preserve the fabric of nature. It is the very ground from which our medicine grows. Any practitioner that seeks to disrupt this balance farther than it already has been probably shouldn’t be practicing the medicine.
But what about animal ingredients in general, even the ones that aren’t endangered? Some people choose not to use them because of their beliefs about animal welfare. Some people will use them in critical circumstances - situations where the use of that product would be so advantageous that it warrants the use in their mind. Others have no problem with using them - believing that their charge to safeguard human health is the most important directive they must follow.
If you are vegan or vegetarian, or if you simply have a high regard for animal welfare, consider asking your doctor to leave them out of your formula. If he insists that those products are necessary in your formula, try to understand his reasoning. Like any decision, this is one you should make in a fully informed state. If you are vehemently opposed to the use of those ingredients, insist that they be left out of your formula. You have a right to control what goes into your body, and your doctor will respect that.
There are a few different types of these ingredients, and your willingness to use animal products as an adjunct for health may depend on which type you are being offered. There are products that include the entire body of the animal. One example is Ge Jie (蛤蚧), the gecko - used for tonification of Kidney Yang. There are products that include only a part of the animal, but surely require the killing of the animal. One example is Xiong Dan (熊膽), bear gallbladder - once used as a strong clearer of heat, especially Liver heat of a severe nature. There are products that likely do not require the killing of the animal, but may wound or otherwise harm it. One example is Lu Rong (慮茸), deer antler velvet. While taking of the velvet is done regardless of its use as an herb and it is also done under anesthetic, there is a reasonable chance that harm will come to the deer and there are other ethical objections aside. Finally, there are products that come from the animal but do not require the processor to kill or hurt it. One example is Wu Ling Zhi (五靈脂), flying squirrel feces - used to invigorate and enliven the blood.
I am currently doing research regarding the processing of animal herbs, because while those in the last class listed above do not require harm to the animal - sloppy processing may cause harm anyway. I would like to be able to provide full information to my future patients.
What do you think about animal ingredients in herbal formulas? Please discuss in the comments.
Eric Grey
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Tags: chinese-herb, chinese-herbs, endangered-animals, Ethics, exotic-herbs, law
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