by Anh Nguyen
In the last episode, we talked about the history and evolution of Vietnamese traditional medicine and how that has led to where we are today. The last episode also mentioned how people in the Western medical field must acknowledge the way culture influences the Eastern medical field and its people. This is the final episode where we will discuss the mindset of Vietnamese people who believe that Eastern medicine can cure “anything”, and how they believe in holistic methods that can “cure” incurable illnesses.
Resources falsely claimed to cure illnesses:
Exploitation for business is not the only reason for the severe damage that humans have caused to nature. There is also the myth that there are certain precious, rare things in nature that can “cure” incurable illness, such as cancer. People who have not researched science, and therefore lack the basic knowledge of it actually believe the quacks (fraud doctors) that claim, “Rhinos’ horns could cure cancer.” The same claim has been made about elephants’ tusks. Briefly, the reason why people exploit rhinos’ horns and elephants’ tusks is because there is a belief that they can cure fever, nose bleeding and temperature relief.
There are quacks that claim that they themselves are able to treat many illnesses with their holistic methods. Praying, lighting incense, and other holistic methods can supposedly call out spirits, dispose of negative energy, and cure illnesses by drinking certain concoctions. The quacks in Vietnam are well-known for their misleading recommendations and lack of medical knowledge. They take advantage of people’s naivety for profit.
Behind the “myth”, there’s “business”:
Thanks to actual scientific data, the news and media have already spread awareness on the false medicinal claims of rhinos’ horns and elephants’ tusks. However, why does it still continue to this day? There are illegal businesses that take advantage of “people’s naiveness” by perpetuating those myths to make high profits. Many illegal businesses got exposed after the transportation of many elephants’ tusks and rhinos’ horns was discovered.
Even though Vietnam has become a middle-income country with modern and advanced education in its economic and medical fields, some large illegal trade systems remain active. The law enforcement is still unable to uncover them. Sadly, the rates of people buying elephants’ tusks and rhinos’ horns are still increasing throughout the years. This kind of exploitation will continue to cause disaster towards nature, especially endangered animals.
Final words:
Thank you for reading through my series of Vietnamese traditional medicine. My purpose of making this series is to let people know not just the historical and current events about medicine in Vietnam, but also the issue with how cultures and beliefs got exploited into business. I want to teach my readers how they can become aware of this kind of issue around us. Once again, thank you for reading my series.
-Anh Nguyen
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