So what happened with all that Fu Zi you were taking?

Watch this video in full-screen HD on youtube.

Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic

This is a video I took in March 2010 at the Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine clinic. Watch in awe as the pharmacist bangs out a prescription quickly and accurately using a traditional brass hand scale.

My herbal prescription from Bai Yun Guan

Watch this video in full-screen HD on youtube.

For more about 火神派 Huo Shen Pai, here is a link to Heiner Fruehauf's website (appears to be down for updates at the moment, but I'm sure it'll be back up soon). If you can read Chinese there is much more information available, as is always the case with Chinese medicine.

Mao Zedong's Gold Needle Treatment

Watch this video in full-screen HD on youtube

Apparently Mao Zedong was treated for some kind of eye condition with golden needles. The tour guide mentions "jin zhen (something something)" - the jin zhen is 金针, but all that means is that the needles used were made from or more likely coated with gold. The second part of the phrase probably describes what was being done with the needles. If anyone knows what she's talking about please let me know!

I took this video at some kind of "Chinese medicine center" which was way out in the middle of nowhere near the Ming Tombs, north of Beijing. I had exactly the experience of Acupuncture Carl - you can read his comment following Bob Flaw's post here. They wouldn't write me a prescription but said I should spend 350rmb for some pills, which is like US$50. No thanks! I never pay retail for herbs if I can help it.

Professional Diversity in the TCM Field

Pharmacy counter at the Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Eric Brand makes a very important point in a recent blog about professional diversity in the U.S. TCM field. The recently-released NCCAOM survey says that over 93% of people in the field describe themselves as "practitioner" rather than educator, administrator, or funded researcher - "pharmacist" wasn't even an option, that's how few of us there are! Eric comments:

This stat is also very interesting because it appears that nearly 94% of the people in our profession essentially have the same job. In the Asian world, the profession is much more diverse. Many professionals in Asia are funded researchers, pharmacists, merchants, scholars, advisors, etc. In the NCAAOM survey, 91% of respondents said that they were self-employed, while 30% were both self-employed and employed by others.

Overall, these numbers suggest to me that we tend to focus too much on a single model of a professional identity and lifestyle. Over 35% of respondents said that they felt “poorly prepared” in terms of marketing and PR, and we constantly hear complaints that students find difficulty finding work after graduation. Perhaps we are too focused on the idea that private practice is the ultimate goal of all graduates. Many graduates like to work for other companies rather than fending for themselves, and there are many potential industry jobs available in areas such as herbal quality control. Unfortunately, our teaching programs rarely introduce students to career tracks and lifestyle models beyond private practice. We often have little training in areas such as research or advanced herbal pharmacy, and there is hardly any competition for the jobs in these sectors. Unfortunately for the academic community and industry, there are relatively few graduates that have the skills to fill these jobs.

Hear hear! This is exactly why Nini and I started Fat Turtle Herbs. As the TCM field grows in America, there will be a corresponding need for the specialized field of TCM pharmacy to grow as well. Successful Chinese medicine practitioners simply don't have the time to be their own pharmacist - on top of being your own secretary, business manager, insurance biller, janitor, and assistant, imagine assembling raw herbal formulas or granule formulas for every single patient. It's just not do-able. This time crunch leads many people to rely on pills or simply give up on herbs altogether, which besides being very sad is doing your patients a disservice.

That's where we come in. You might not have the capital or the space for a front office person or insurance biller, but you can always send your herbal formulas to us. In the L.A. area we have a convenient pickup location close to the 405 freeway, and we ship all over the United States (regular shipping arrives the next day in Southern California, two days to the Bay Area).

I was fortunate to have Tom Leung as my Herbs 3 teacher at my TCM school in New York - later I was able to work at his herbal pharmacy Kamwo, which is a traditional Chinatown herb store that's been modernized, upgraded and made friendly to non-Chinese speaking practitioners. That's when I looked around and realized I was surrounded by people who had deep knowledge of herbs, herbal formulas, over-the-counter herbal remedies, herbal preparation and TCM theory. They knew much much more than a new graduate of a typical acupuncture college, were involved in Chinese medicine every day of their working lives, and yet none of them ever touched a needle or treated a patient.

When I moved to Los Angeles to finish my TCM schooling, I looked around for a Kamwo equivalent. Surely there must be one, I thought, this kind of herbal pharmacy is so vital to the TCM community. Herb King in Santa Monica used to perform that role, but the owner unexpectedly died in a car crash and it was bought by the owners of a medical marijuana dispensary, who quickly started selling pot there. The owner of the building then booted them rather than risk having his property seized by the DEA, and that was the end of Herb King. Although they still sell Chinese herbs, it's truly a side line - the vast majority of their business comes from marijuana.

(I worked for a little more than a year at the successor to the Herb King, and I can tell you from personal experience that Chinese pharmacy service is little more than window dressing for them. There are certainly good, earnest L.Acs working there who will assemble an herbal formula for you, but without the support of upper management the Chinese herbs displayed are, as I say, window dressing. Fat Turtle is truly focused on professional Chinese herbal pharmacy services - we don't sell pot. I support medical marijuana and I'm glad it's available to those that need it, but it falls into a special category that L.Acs legally have absolutely no jurisdiction over, and associating ourselves with medical marijuana does nothing to advance the profession or help our patients.)

Whenever I tell L.Acs and TCM students what I do, and that I don't treat patients, I get one of two reactions. 1) The students and newer practitioners get a look on their face like they heard someone died, and say "Oh, wow. That's... I mean..." 2) The more experienced practitioners say "Wow, that's great! How do I order?"

The students and new practitioners are thinking of themselves - everyone is afraid of being "one of those" who doesn't end up practicing, who puts in four years of study and borrowed money and "doesn't use it." I'm here to tell you, don't worry about it! Yes, we need lots of wonderful doctors. But we also need teachers, administrators, researchers, and yes, pharmacists, all working in the TCM field. So if you're halfway through TCM school and are realizing that you don't want to be a doctor, come talk to me. I may have a job for you.

Widely Used Agricultural Pesticide Causes Sex Change

There is something strange in the water indeed!!

In my previous life as a scientific researcher, I spent hours and hours conducting studies on atrazine and it's effects on the endocrine system. Last year the EPA approved of its continued use despite results from various laboratories throughout the country arguing that more stringent regulation may be necessary. This past Monday, the prestigious journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America published an article from my former laboratory called: "Atrazine induces complete feminization and chemical castration in male African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis)"

From the title of the paper you can probably guess what they were able to find.

Male frogs not only showed signs of demasculinization, but actually became fully female and had the ability to lay viable eggs. Essentially, they had a chemical sex change through environmental exposure! If that isn't crazy enough, the levels at which these frogs were exposed to atrazine are thousands of times below the level currently allowable in drinking water.

Read the abstract from PNAS.

Here are some quotable quotes from around the news world:

About 75% of stream water samples and 40% of groundwater samples contain atrazine, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group, detected atrazine in 90% of tap water samples from 139 water systems. Inexpensive faucet-top water filters can remove the chemical" - USA Today, March 1, 2010

Atrazine can be transported more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) from the point of application via rainfall and, as a result, contaminates otherwise pristine habitats - AFP, March 1, 2010

Approximately 80 million pounds (36,287 tonnes) are applied annually in the United States alone, and atrazine is the most common pesticide contaminant of ground and surface water.

The negative impacts on wild amphibians is especially concerning given that the dose examined here (2.5 ppb) is in the range that animals experience year-round in areas where atrazine is used as well within levels found in rainfall, in which levels can exceed 100 ppb in the Midwestern United States - Reuters, March 2, 2010

Atrazine was banned in the European Union (EU) in 2004 because of its persistent groundwater contamination. In the United States, however, atrazine is one of the most widely used herbicides, with 76 million pounds of it applied each year, in spite of the restriction that used to be imposed. It is probably the most commonly used herbicide in the world, and is used in about 80 countries worldwide. Its endocrine disruptor effects, possible carcinogenic effect, and epidemiological connection to low sperm levels in men has led several researchers to call for banning it in the US. - Wikipedia

Men with higher levels of three commonly used farming pesticides—alachlor, atrazine, and diazinon—in their bodies were much more likely to have a low sperm count than men who showed low levels of the pesticides. - National Geographic, April 2005

9000 Needles

9000 Needles is the story of Devin Dearth, a champion bodybuilder and family man from Kentucky who suffers a devastating stroke. After a hospital stay and physical rehabilitation, he is sent home, still with limited mobility. Desperate for further treatment, Devin's family searches and somehow has the good fortune to find Dr. Shi Xuemin and the Tianjin acupuncture hospitals he is affiliated with. And then...? I don't know, all I've seen is the trailer above.

I admit that I am excited about the possibility that this film could bring greater awareness of how effective acupuncture is and can be. I'm also looking forward to watching interviews with the famous acupuncture doctor Shi Xuemin. However, the film also looks like an incredibly moving story about a family struggling through some tough times. The film was actually made by Devin's brother Doug Dearth.

It's coming to L.A. for two screenings in the next few weeks. One is a benefit screening in West Hollywood (tickets are $40), and the other is at Oasis Theater on Wilshire (tickets $10). I'll be going to one of them. If you're an acupuncturist, acupuncture student, acupuncture school administrator, or just enjoy a good movie, be sure to watch!

On the web:

• 9000 Needles Official Website
  
• Where to Watch - a list of upcoming screenings.
  
• Acupuncture for Stroke Rehabilitation: Three Decades of Information from China featuring an article on Dr. Shi Xuemin and his particular method of acupuncture for stroke. (Google Books link)
  
• Dr. Shi Xuemin's profile on the website of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.