Animal Extinction and Chinese Male Impotence
What do these parts of endangered animals have in common? They are all parts of animals that are slaughtered around the world because in Chinese culture it is believed that ingesting these animal parts will improve the potency of the Chinese male. Especially the penis.
In fact, as the BBC reports there is even a specialty restaurant in China that whose menu consists only of penises and testicles of various animals, many of them endangered.
Such is the insecurity of many Chinese men that they enthusiastically chase after these "cures". Medical studies have been done again and again that show no difference between ingesting these animal parts and taking a placebo. But to no avail. Rare beautiful animals around the world are slowly being made extinct to serve the fragile Chinese penis.
"Before Viagra, demand also grew in Asia for seal penises, sold as a male sex aid. In 1996, sealers sold 30,290 penises earning them $940,000. In some cases, male seals were killed for the organ alone." ( U.S. News and World Report, May 6, 2002. P. 57)
Various wonderful animals on this earth, such as tigers, rhinos, and bears are going extinct because Chinese men want to eat various parts of their bodies in order to achieve an erection.
While the aphrodesiac market is leaning to chemical pharmeceuticals, exotic animal ingredients are still a profitable market. Every year animals are killed in order to improve the sexual stamina of a growing Chinese population.
Here is just a small list of the animals in the world that are endangered mostly by Chinese Male Impotence:
| Animal Affected | Chinese (and Other Countries) Impotence Claims |
| CERVI CORNU, DEER ANTLER Lu rong) | Reinforces the Kidneys and Qi, nourishes the Blood and vital Essence, strengthens the bones and muscles. It is often found in many formula to enhance sexual energy. |
| Gecko | formula For Kidney Yang Good for general weakness, impotence, poor circulation, cold extremities, and frequent urination. |
| Velvet Deer Horn | Procreation Elixir. Link 1. velvet elk antler (Korea): Link 2. |
| Turtle Eggs and Shell (gui ban) | Link 1: (zhu ji sui) filling the semen and supplementing the yin fluids. Turtle eggs - eaten raw with salt and lime juice, are said to be an aphrodisiac. sea turtle eggs (in Mexico and Latin America). Link 2: Sea turtle eggs are a prized food for humans and animals alike. They are easy prey, simply waiting to be dug up once the female turtle returns to the sea. Turtle eggs are used in traditional Asian medicines, and in most parts of the tropical world the eggs are an important part of local diets. Latin Americans covet sea turtle eggs as an aphrodisiac and energizing protein. |
Rhinoceros Horn |
Contrary to popular belief, the Chinese do not use rhino horn as an aphrodisiac - a few tribes in the north of India are practically the only people who use rhino horn as an aphrodisiac. Rhino horn is said to make men sexually unstoppable. Link 1. |
| Tiger Penis | The tiger penis is much revered as an aphrodisiac in China, Taiwan and South Korea. The price of soup made from the supposed aphrodisiac, tiger penises, can reach $350 a bowl.
A lot of people, i.e., women, might not consider the money well spent – according to reports, tiger copulation lasts only 15 seconds.) Link 1: ‘For centuries ancient Asian cultures have believed (and still do) that by consuming dried Tiger Penis had magical cures to improve Male Stamina like Viagra, and even lead to a Larger Penis. This claim was drastically increased if these concocktions (pun intended) were created from White Tiger Penis. As silly as this sounds, these myths do exist and are one of the primary factors influencing the act of tiger poaching and other animal poaching to continually supply Endangered Species parts for traditional Asian Medicine and Sexual Performance products. Another page from the same site. From the Wikipedia entry for “Tiger”: |
| Fish Milt | Is the seminal fluid of fish, mollusks, and certain other water-dwelling animals who reproduce by spraying milt onto roe (fish eggs). |
| Sea Cucumber | The sea cucumber is an echinoderm of the class Holothuroidea, with an elongated body and leathery skin, which is found on the sea floor worldwide. Sea cucumbers are an important food source in many parts of the world, known as trepang, and have renowned aphrodisiac properties. Link 1: |
| Frogs | frog cocktails (in the Andes, Peru): Link 1: Link 2: |
| Baby Eels (Europe and China and Japan) | Link 1: Sold by French fishermen to China and Japan, glass eels are grown for several months before appearing on the menu as an aphrodisiac speciality. Link 2: Eels, especially small eels, are prized for their taste and their aphrodisiac qualities in Europe and Asia. Some restaurateurs and fishermen blame the Asian trade for snapping up all available eels, encouraging overfishing and pushing up prices. They have called for an EU-wide ban on eel fishing to give stocks time to replenish.’ |
| Seal Penises (China): | Link 1: After last year's fall in the price of seal penises, prices now appear to be on the up and up. At a recent fisheries exposition in Beijing, a Norwegian company sold its entire 1997 stock of 6,000 seal penises at prices of 40 USD for the long ones (45 cm) and 15-20 USD for the small ones (20 cm), reports the Norwegian newspaper "Bergens Tidende" in today's issue. The buyer, a business man from Singapore, also secured an option on all the seal penises the company can manage to supply next year. The penises will be used in the manufacture of a remedy designed to stimulate sexual potency. "I am confident that this product will be a sales success all over Asia. In China, there are a thousand years of wisdom and traditions in the use of seal organs as an expedient of sexual potency. In earlier times, only the Emperor was allowed to drink this panacea of potency, a mixture concocted from the penises of reindeers, bulls and seals, together with Chinese herbs and spirits. And indeed, the Emperor would have needed all the help he could get in bed, to fulfil the obligations he had towards his innumerable wives and concubines," says the buyer with a smile. Link 2: Toronto shops specializing in traditional Chinese medicine are currently selling seal penises for $500 each.
They can get such a large sum for this unusual product because it comes with a tantalizing promise: Seal penises will improve sexual function in men.
How? Traditionally, a man is supposed to mix seal penis powder in wine and drink it. Some convenient potions come with seal penis already mixed in wine. Link 3: One of the more valuable markets for seal products over the past seven years has been for the seal penis, which is sold in Asia as an aphrodisiac. The organs of older male seals are the most valuable, and sealers often match up the penis from an older male with the more valuable pelt of the baby seal - reporting it as one kill. This caused one DFO scientist to estimate that the actual kill of seals was twice as high as the reported kill. Aphrodisiacs advertised as |
| Seahorses (Chinese medicine): | Quoted Link: The seahorse, used as a treatment for kidney ailments, circulatory problems, and impotence, has been a feature of TCM for centuries. In fact, it was mentioned in the famous work Bencao gangmu (1578; “Great Pharmacopoeia”), a description of nearly 2,000 drugs. Today approximately 90 health and medicine products containing seahorses are sold in China and elsewhere. Thirty-two countries and regions are involved in harvesting some 20,000,000 seahorses each year; yet production already is failing to meet a worldwide demand that had reached 500 tons annually by the beginning of the 21st century. China’s demand alone was 200–250 tons per year, 95 percent of which had to be imported. The rising demand, according to the World Nature Foundation, had resulted, already in 1996, in the reduction of populations of the known 35 varieties of seahorses by more than half. Currently the seahorse is not listed as endangered and there are no international regulations on trade, a tragedy in the making. Efforts to promote seahorse farming, tried and abandoned in the past, are underway again. China’s Hainan province, whose coastal areas near Yaxian (called Sanya locally) provide ideal living conditions for the seahorse, is making significant investments in seahorse farming. Meanwhile the harvesting of wild seahorses goes on. ‘In Taiwan they're used an awful lot for an aphrodisiac or to promote sexual function.’ ‘AV: We've talked a lot to traditional Chinese medicine users and they're convinced that seahorses work, which is one reason why we don't take the arrogant perspective of dismissing it as superstitious nonsense. Instead we're trying very hard to set up a new approach whereby we respect the conviction that these are medically useful, at the same time pointing out that the loss of these animals in wild populations would penalize Chinese medicine as much as it would penalize those who respect them for their conservation value. Really, when you think about it, the people who catch the seahorses need there still to be seahorses so that they can continue earning an income. The people who use seahorses for medicines need there still to be seahorses to treat their illnesses. And we, who primarily are concerned about the conservation issues, want there to be seahorses. And there's got to be a way of harnessing these three different converging needs for seahorses in the wild. |
Recently, conservationists have debated whether consumers of animal and plant potency products used to treat erectile dysfunction (ED) in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) might be switching to Viagra, consequently consuming fewer of these animals and plants. To address this question, a survey examined the medical decisions of male consumers of TCM in Hong Kong who were over the age of 50. As predicted, these consumers reported selectively switching to Western medicines to treat ED, but not to treat other health ailments. These findings provide support for the possibility that Viagra may have conservation benefits for certain species.
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An article from the BBC about a “penis emporium” restaurant in Beijing, China:
Rare order
"Not long ago, a particularly rich real estate mogul came in with four friends. All men. Women don't come here so often, and they shouldn't eat testicles," says Nancy solemnly. The men spent $5,700 (£3,000) on a particularly rare dish, something that needed to be ordered months in advance. "Tiger penis," says Nancy.
The illegal trade in tiger parts is a big problem in China. Campaigners say the species is being driven towards extinction because of its popularity as a source of traditional medicine. I mention this, delicately, to Nancy, but she insists that all her tiger supplies come from animals that have died of old age. "Anyway, we only have one or two orders a year," she says.
"So what does it taste like?" I ask. "Oh, the same as all the others," she says blithely. And does it have any particular potency? "No. People just like to order tiger to show off how much money they have." Welcome to the People's Republic of China - tigers beware.