Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Health Preferences And Culturally Appropriate Strategies To Reduce Bear Bile Demand In Northern Vietnam, Shannon Randolph, Laura Zhang, Lena Tran, Mai Nguyen, Kimberley Ha

EnviroLab Asia

Animal products, such as pangolin scales, rhinoceros horns, tiger bones, and bear bile have been used in East Asian traditional medicine (TM) for more than 2,000 years. However, markets for medicinal wildlife products have expanded dramatically in countries like China and Vietnam in recent decades where economic prosperity has enabled a larger proportion of the population to afford wildlife products (Olmedo et al. 2017). Related new farming and commercialization practices to meet growing international demand pose environmental and human health risks. Animal products also symbolize shared cultural and historical medical practices that are distinct from the dominant Western medical model.