The skin cure fad threatening Myanmar's elephants

[WhiteTara]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/skin-cure-fad-threatening-myanmars-elephants-042114265.html

Under the shadow of Myanmar's famed "Golden Rock" punters haggle for the latest traditional medicine cure -- slices of skin from the country's fast disappearing wild elephants sold for a few dollars a square inch.

A set of stairs winds behind one of the Buddhist country's most holy sites to a maze of shops openly selling everything from pieces of ivory and tiger's teeth to vials of bear oil.

But there is a new fad luring devotees of traditional medicine.

"Elephant's skin can cure skin diseases like eczema," one shop owner, who requested anonymity, told AFP next to a counter brimming with porcupine quills and snake skins.

"You burn pieces of skin by putting them in a clay pot. Then you get the ash and mix it with coconut oil to apply on the eczema."

He breaks off to talk to a potential buyer, who baulks at the price tag of 5,000 kyat ($3.65) per square inch (6.5 square centimetres) of elephant skin.

Another young man touting his wares nearby promised a paste made from ground up elephant teeth would "cure pimples and remove black spots".