Dear Dr. John,

Recently, I heard about a traditional Chinese medicine that comes from donkey skin and that this has led to a fair amount of abuse of these creatures around the world. Is this true? I cannot help but wonder how many animals are used to produce different kinds of medications. Are animals used to produce medications in our country or others? I realize that animals provide us with food and much more but hopefully this is always done with best practices in animal welfare. W.G.

Dear W.G.,

Your questions are ones that lead to a lot of political discussions and some strong emotional beliefs. I will address the facts as I know them. Donkey skin is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to produce something called ejiao. The gelatin or collagen found in donkey hide is apparently used to treat several illnesses and conditions such as dizziness, cough, infertility, anemia, and bleeding, In recent years, there has been a large increase in demand for this product leading to an enormous reduction of the donkey population in China leading to sourcing coming from elsewhere, primarily from Africa, but also in South America.

Recently, the African Union voted to make it illegal to slaughter these animals merely for their skin. The Donkey Sanctuary has done much to expose the issue, and there is even legislation pending domestically to bring light to the problem and promote protection for these animals. The World Veterinary Association also is working to prevent the practice of donkey slaughter for their skins through educational materials about the donkey skin trade. Alternatives can hopefully be found, and in vitro research is needed.

However, it is important to stress that animal products are also used to produce many worthwhile products that do have science to back them up such as the use of pancreas for insulin, thyroid gland for thyroxin, cod liver oil, pigs for heparin, and more. Society continues to work on balancing animal welfare with needs for food, medicine, and more.

Dr. John de Jong owns and operates the Boston Mobile Veterinary Clinic. He can be reached at 781-899-9994.