Pop Viagra and save a rhino

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From the Los Angeles Times

Pop Viagra and save a rhino

Impotence drugs could replace useless but popular animal-based aphrodisiacs.

By J.D. Smith May 23, 2006

 

FOR YEARS NOW, preservationists have been pleading and preaching in a failed

attempt to get humans to stop slaughtering exotic and increasingly rare animals

whose organs are believed to increase sexual potency. But it hasn't worked.

Poachers risk bullets, handcuffs and steep fines for the profits from rhinoceros

horns, tiger penises or the eggs of endangered sea turtles, all wrongly believed

to enhance male sexual performance or desire.

 

It's time for a new approach. Let's turn people on to drugs. How do you say

" Viagra " in Chinese? Would making Viagra, Levitra, Cialis or other

pharmaceutical alternatives affordable around the world cause the demand for

animal-based aphrodisiacs or sexual remedies to falter?

 

The alternative is grim. Many of the endangered animals targeted by poachers are

" charismatic megafauna " — mammals such as tigers, bears or seals, whose beauty

or behavior elicits humans' sympathy or awe. Other creatures, such as the lowly

sea cucumber or the majestic and critically endangered African black rhinoceros,

are unlucky enough to have characteristics that strike humans as suggestive.

 

Scientific research has failed to find any benefit to either sexual desire or

performance from the animal products used in these traditional medicines. Hope

springs eternal for effective aphrodisiacs — and perpetual motion machines, for

that matter — but the only likely value of these animal products stems from a

placebo effect. With the possible exception of testosterone supplements, Western

medicine also offers little help in stimulating sexual desire.

 

On the other hand, as every TV viewer knows, brighter prospects exist for

treating impotency — re-branded these days as erectile dysfunction. So it's a

good bet that we can reduce the demand for potency aids derived from tigers,

seahorses and Philippine fruit bats by increasing the supply of low-cost

pharmaceutical alternatives in countries where many of these animals are hunted

and consumed.

 

Enforcing laws against poaching and illegal trade remains vital in the short

run. A future change in consumer preferences couldn't help the 1,200 endangered

freshwater turtles that were seized and released by police in Colombia in April.

 

Still, a conservation policy that relies mainly on policing is doomed to fail.

But a strategy of making erectile dysfunction drugs cheap and widely available,

combined with education, is at least worth trying. Such programs could make

strange bedfellows, for lack of a better word, of governments, environmental

groups and pharmaceutical companies. Erectile dysfunction medications could be

subsidized or given away, perhaps along with condoms and information on

reproductive health.

 

The limited evidence available to date is promising. A 2002 study in the journal

Environmental Conservation found that in Hong Kong, since the introduction of

Viagra in 1998, apothecaries' demand for comparably priced animal products used

in traditional impotency treatments had fallen by more than half.

 

It won't be a cure-all. Consumer habits are difficult to change, and some men

believe that erectile dysfunction medications should be " boosted " with small

amounts of animal products. Moreover, we men are reluctant to admit the waning

of our powers; some don't want to seek medical treatment and prefer to deal with

traditional or clandestine sales networks. Cultural taboos about sex complicate

discussion of exactly why tigers or reindeer are being hunted — and why Viagra

is a better bet.

 

Viagra and its cousins should be advertised explicitly as an alternative to

animal-based impotence remedies. Current international campaigns against trade

in endangered species feature celebrities who are mostly young and in great

shape — or airbrushed to look that way. I can't entirely relate. We need

culturally and demographically appropriate appeals. How about commercials

showing an ordinary, middle-aged couple holding hands, and a caption like,

" Saving a rhinoceros isn't the only reason they're smiling. " And campaigns aimed

at younger consumers could portray rhino horns as potions for the elderly and

pharmaceutical solutions as globally chic.

 

Swaggering appeals to masculinity couldn't hurt, either. If an aging tough guy

like Clint Eastwood — or his Indian equivalent — says it's more manly to take a

pill than to eat macaque derivatives, he has a good chance of being listened to.

The National Institute of Mental Health's " Real Men. Real Depression " campaign

offers an example that could be adapted to meet the needs of regular guys in

other cultures. In the course of protecting endangered animals and their

habitats, we might find out what kind of animal we can truly be.