There are a lot of messed up things in this world I could write about. I do not think Steem should just be a bubble where we write crowd-pleasing posts to make money. We should talk about issues too. I am aware of lots of human suffering going on around the world, but today I want to write about the fact that some forms of traditional 'medicine' are going to deprive the world of species that are already threatened by environmental destruction.
In the last week authorities in Singapore have found 28 tonnes of pangolin scales being smuggled to Vietnam. These are the result of killing tens of thousands of these endangered creatures.
Image from Wikipedia
These creatures do no harm to humans, but someone has decided that their scales have magical properties. This is quite frankly bollocks. They are keratin, which is what hair and nails are made of. Rhino horn is the same stuff, but ruthless people will make wild claims about what they can do for you do they can make a big profit from selling them. If you think keratin does you some good then you may as well bite your own fingernails.
I know some people are distrustful of scientific medicine, but at least that has to be proven to do some good. Okay, so drug companies are after profit too, but if their products do not work then they tend to lose out. Of course many medicines are made from natural products, but the pangolin trade has nothing to do with real cures and is done without regard to keeping the species going. When they all die out then the smugglers will move onto something else and claim that is a cure-all.
Apparently people also eat pangolin meat as it is considered exclusive. That is more bollocks. It does not make you special to eat something rare, it makes you an idiot.
I will admit to knowing little about traditional Asian cures, but people all over the world should be conscious of the impact of their actions. I'm sure attitudes vary a lot and so I am interested to hear from those in other countries as to whether this is considered a problem where you are. Can we change attitudes?
Environmental concern may be considered a first world luxury. We have to lead by example.
Excuse the rant, but I feel frustrated.
The geeky guitarist and facilitator of the 10K Minnows Project.
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