Research: Viagra Helps Save Animals

The popularity of Viagra may be helping endangered animals. How, you ask? Well, Chinese healers tend to use animal parts to create homemade remedies to treat conditions like erectile dysfunction. Now that Viagra is a household name, Chinese men are more likely to try Viagra over a traditional remedy. The results? Less demand for animal-based remedies.

More Chinese men turn to Viagra

While traditional and holistic healing techniques are a part of the Chinese culture, a new study suggests men with erectile dysfunction will use modern medicine if it’s more effective than a traditional treatment.

Pfizer, the manufacturer of Viagra, funded a study at a traditional clinic in Hong Kong. More than 200 men were questioned about their preferred treatment for erectile dysfunction. Of those men, 35 said they had tried Viagra and had no intentions of returning to the traditional remedy. The research shows many of the Chinese men made the switch because they wanted a faster solution to their sexual problem than traditional options were providing.

Breaking barriers

While 35 may seem like a small number, researchers point out that it is extremely difficult for Western medicine to be accepted in China. Researchers believe it shows Viagra is slowly becoming an alternative option for Chinese men, an alternative option that could lead to fewer animals being used in homemade remedies.

That said, some Chinese still heavily rely on their traditional remedies for other health problems.  In some traditional villages, western medications are rarely used.

The study was published in Environmental Conservation and was conducted by researchers from the University of New South Wales and the University of Alaska.