Placentas as widely available as vegetables
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Although their medical value has not yet been established, placentas, often used to cure sexual disorders such as erectile dysfunction and premature ejaculation, are widely available in the form of dried products in the pharmaceutical market, also known as the oriental medicine quarter, in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 5.
According to Sai Gon Tiep Thi, almost every household in the area, covered by Hai Thuong Lan Ong, Trieu Quang Phuc, Luong Nhu Hoc, Phung Hung and Nguyen Trai streets, sells dried placentas as if they were selling a necessity item on our daily diet.
Thi Hoai Le, 33, who was buying dried placentas at a shop on Hai Thuong Lan Ong Street, said her husband’s sperm counts were low and her eggs were inadequate, so they could hardly get a child of their own.
Recommended by a traditional herbalist, she and her husband have been using placentas for many months. Le said the product is easy to cook and is nutritious.
At first she bought it from the physician for VND250,000 (US$11.9) a packet. But when she discovered its price on the market is only VND110,000, she came here to buy it.
At the corner of Hai Thuong Lan Ong and Trieu Quang Phuc streets, a man of about 40 stopped his motorbike in front of a shop and asked for five packets of placentas.
Inquired by the shop owner of his reason for buying it, he explained he had not been feeling well and was advised to take the placentas to recover his health.
The woman handed him five packets of dried placentas, yellow threads similar to the wheat noodles, and charged him VND500,000 (US$24).
Before he left, she told him that the food was very nutritious and that both he and his wife could cook it as a soup, or sauté it with vegetables, or steam it.
Talking to a shop owner in the area who speaks with a northern accent, we were told that the dried placentas originate from China and are sold at VND100,000 a packet.
The product’s quality is good and it is simple to cook, He assured us.
Asked if the product is free from hepatitis and HIV viruses, he confidently asserted that no virus can survive the drying process that is applied to the product.
The placenta sold at most pharmaceutical shops here is packaged in a nylon bag and come in two different types. The packet with five Chinese words is priced at VND75,000-85,000 and the one carrying 10 Chinese words costs VND110,000-135,000. No information is given about its place of production, nor is there any Vietnamese sub-label to accompany it.
Placentas sold at traditional medical clinics cost VND200,000-250,000 a packet. At Chinese traditional medical clinics, a packet containing seven different kinds of herbal medicines, including the placenta, prescribed to cure infertility, costs VND300,000-500,000.
When asked about the medical properties of placenta, many traditional physicians say they use it to cure sexual disorders and respiratory diseases. In particular, they often prescribe it for infertile couples. Some physicians also buy fresh placentas to soak them in rice wine or make them into pills to sell to patients.
Dinh Cong Bay, general secretary of Ho Chi Minh City Pharmaceuticals Association and a traditional physician himself, advised against using placentas of unclear origin or taking it without consulting certified physicians first.
Many physicians from the Ho Chi Minh City Traditional Medicine Association say since placentas are widely prescribed by physicians, the government should set up enterprises to produce quality placenta products to meet the public demand and ensure consumer safety.
