The South Africa – Viet Nam Rhino Horn Trade Nexus (PDF ... - WWF

situation at the end-use market: viet nam
And finally, Viet Nam appears to be the only country in the world where rhino horn is popularly gaining
a reputation as an aphrodisiac: one Vietnamese-language internet offering claimed that “rhino horn
is more effective than Viagra allowing men to have sex for two to four hours” (Smith, 2012a). A couple of
years earlier, a TIME magazine writer also reported hearing similar stories but wondered about their
accuracy (H. Beech, pers. comm., 20 October 2010). Finally, TRAFFIC’s own research has substantiated
the use of rhino horns in a medicine called “tuu giac” meaning “rhino wine” to improve the sexual
prowess of men. Used fairly exclusively by wealthy consumers, tuu giac can apparently be made from
any part or derivative of rhino including blood, dried dung, penis or horn dipped into or mixed with
strong rice wine. Adding further credibility to the claim, one authoritative compendium on medicinal
plants and animals recently published in Viet Nam lists “impotence” as an ailment for which rhino
horn is “highly valued” and “can cure”, stating that “recently it [rhino horn] is used as a powerful aphrodisiac”
(Do et al., 2006).
Indeed, using the word “recently” in a Vietnamese traditional medicine book published in 2006 to
characterize rhino horn as an aphrodisiac is highly revealing. For years, the fallacious notion of rhino
horn usage in Asia as an aphrodisiac has been cynically and erroneously perpetuated in Western media,
much to the chagrin of conservationists who believe that such denigration serves as a distraction to
effective engagement and dialogue with Asian traditional medicine communities on important endangered
species issues. More than three decades ago, serious examination of rhino horn usage in both the
traditional medicine literature and in practice led to the unassailable conclusion that it was neither
classified, nor used, as an aphrodisiac in Asia (Martin and Martin, 1982). The perpetuation of such
notions on current Vietnamese websites, and even in contemporary iterations of the sanctioned traditional
medicinal literature, makes one wonder if a patently false but ubiquitous Western-based rumour
from the distant past has now been reinvented and embraced as a valid rhino horn attribute in Viet
Nam. If so, a once denigrating characterization of Asian men by smug Westerners has apparently come
full circle, no doubt aided by the cynical power of unfiltered, persistent internet marketing. Like the
notion of “weapons of mass destruction” in pre-war Iraq, does amplifying a false premise in the media
long enough make it a believable and actionable reality? This certainly seems to be the case in Viet
Nam with rhino horn currently being promoted as an exceptional aid to sexual performance.
On the other hand, negative publicity in the form of testimonies where rhino horn usage is associated
with disappointment and grief are beginning to emerge. In June 2011, the following story was published
in the Vietnamese media:
A 21 year old woman, Hang, from Hoan Kiem, Hanoi revealed she had spent a large amount of money
buying rhino horn to treat her mouth rash after trying other medicine without success. Hang tried rhino
horn as a treatment after reading a document that indicated rhino horn was a good medicine for releasing
heat and poison as well as for the treatment of mouth-rash. Two days after Hang used the rhino horn to
treat her mouth rash she developed further erythema and pimples. The irritation also spread to her face
and arms and she developed a fever. When Hang went to the Clinical Allergy - Immunity Department in
Bach Mai Hospital, her disease was diagnosed as an allergic reaction due to poisoning as a result of using
the rhino horn medicine. Dr. Nguyen Huu Truong from the Allergy Clinic, Immunity Center in Bach Mai
Hospital said there is no evidence to prove that rhino horn reduces fever. In addition, rhino horn can cause
an allergic reaction and poisoning due to unfamiliar ingredients in the mixture. People are warned not to
self-medicate with rhino horn but instead to seek the advice of a doctor for the treatment of their illness
(Anon, 2011d).
The above story was remarkable in that it seems to represent the first time that a failed rhino horn
treatment has been publicly exposed and amplified in the Vietnamese media. Indeed, outspoken Dr
Truong was again back in the press in April 2012:
Nguyen Huu Truong, a doctor at Hanoi’s Center for Allergy Clinical Immunology, said a handful of
patients visit him each year complaining of rashes he links to rhino horn consumption. “Many
Vietnamese believe that anything expensive is good, but if you’re going to spend a lot of money on rhino
horn, you might as well bite your nails,” he said (Ives, 2012).
English media in Viet Nam is also beginning to publicize other hard-luck stories of rhino horn usage.
For example, near Ho Chi Minh’s largest cancer hospital, Ung Buu in the Binh Thanh District, a
Western journalist interviewed a woman who operated a rent-a-kitchen business where the relatives of
sick patients could prepare food. This woman observed that:
There were desperate people going through that hospital that used sung te giac [rhino horn], but it doesn’t cure
cancer, and fake or real, it is a waste of money. Surrounded by the realities of late diagnosis and ineffective
treatment, she had observed these poor people get their hopes of a miracle cure shattered, victims of cruel sung
te giac traders who prey on the sick (Smith, 2012b).
At this same location, another emaciated man diagnosed with leukaemia reported spending more than two
months wages on a piece of rhino horn and used it to no effect, although he now wonders whether he had
purchased a fake horn (Smith, 2012b).
Indeed, such stories are probably fairly common, but until very recently few credible accounts of the failures
or unintended consequences of rhino horn usage had been documented and placed in the public domain,
especially in the Vietnamese language. As a counterpoint to the urban myth of miraculous cures, these real life
experiences of failed treatment and victimization hold the potential of changing public perceptions about the
validity of rhino horn as medicine for serious illness. For example, an AFP reporter wrote in May 2012:
Two cancer patients taking rhino horn as part of their treatment who were contacted by AFP for this story died
before interviews could be arranged (Barton, 2012).
More such reporting holds the potential to dispel prevailing attitudes about the efficacy of rhino horn as a
cure for cancer. But for some cancer patients, especially the elderly, hopeful cultural imperatives will seemingly
trump hard medical realities:
Tran Thi Hiep, a 60-year-old retired official who discovered a tumour on her neck six years ago and has been
using rhino horn, said that traditional Vietnamese culture encourages people to try every possible treatment.
“When we are sick, we should pray to the four corners of the earth for a cure,” she said, quoting a common
Vietnamese saying (Barton, 2012).
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