ground and mixed with boiling water
In the Asian countries, the rhino horn plays a critical role, albeit of a different fashion. As an ornament, it is carved and shaped into belt buckles, cups, paperweights, and hair pins, and for medicinal purposes, it is ground and mixed with boiling water, the resulting concoction believed to be effective for the treatment of rheumatism, fever, gout, headaches, typhoid, and even snakebites and cancer. It is not, as commonly believed, used as an aphrodisiac.
Recommended articles:A fish trapped in a dry rut
Beautiful love
Half awake and half sleep
The ink spilt all over the floor
Some love, need to give up
Given the large number of rhinos which are poached in Africa each year, the question that many are increasingly asking is whether there is medicinal value in rhino horn. This question has been put to the test by scientists over the years and the unanimous opinion, based on concrete scientific research, is a resounding "NO". In the 1980's, Swiss pharmaceutical Hoffmann-Rouche conducted studies and found no medicinal value in rhino horn. In the early 1990's, Chinese University researchers found that a very large dose could lower the fever in mice only slightly, a dose that was minuscule compared to what traditional Chinese medical practitioners prescribe for their patients. As a consequence of these and other findings, China's Ministry of Health removed rhino horn from its official list of substances that are useful as medicines and subsequent trade in the horn was deemed illegal.
Surprisingly, illegal trade in ivory continues to this day. Last year, Kenya lost twenty nine rhinos to poachers, and this year has witnessed the death of thirty four. South Africa, with about eighty percent of Africa's rhino population, has lost over one thousand since 2009. This is a calamity which cannot be allowed to continue. Tourists visit Africa to view the wildlife, and when the lives of these undomesticated creatures are endangered, the very foundation of many African economies faces risk.
As scientists have repeatedly posed, rhino horn is composed of keratin, the same substance in hair, fingernails, hooves, and claws. If fingernails have no medicinal value, why decimate the rhino population for a substance that is so easily available and free. After all, if it was not a myth that rhino horn has medicinal value, then people might as well chew their fingernails when they come down with a fever. The Yemeni government must act strongly to found an alternative for the use of rhino horn in dagger handles because Africa's economy cannot support a lifestyle it does not or wish to benefit from. Most importantly, the world must unite against the use of rhino horn for medicinal purposes in Asia. This is the twenty first century where over the counter medications can work in place of many of these so called "cures".
