Glues made from the body parts of certain animals are used to treat or cure diseases in Vietnam and neighboring countries.

A man dyes a yellow cat into black to sell to clients for processing into bone glue

While their therapeutic properties have yet to be proven by modern science, they fetch big money, and unscrupulous dealers prey on the gullible, selling exotic glue they claim is made from black cats, poisonous snakes and the like.

On February 15 a man known only as Muoi was selling bone glue in Phu Lam Residential Area in Ho Chi Minh City’s Binh Tan District.

“This is bone glue from a very poisonous snake, a very special substance that can cure rheumatism, paralysis, and sinusitis and control other dangerous diseases like cancer and cysts,” he tells a bunch of people.

“Many people want to buy this.”

Tuoi Tre discovered that he lives a nomadic life, constantly on the move to hawk his stuff.

Manual workers are the favorite targets for Muoi and his five partners. They often sell their glue to them for VND300,000 (USD14.5) per 100 grammes.

According to their advertisement, the substance was made from bones of a very venomous snake, and that is why it can treat diseases.

Pharmacist Tran Van Tre, head of the pharmaceutical department at the Ho Chi Minh City Institute of Traditional Medicine, dismisses such claims saying that animal bones do contain some substances like minerals and protein but have not been proved as being effective in treating diseases.

Besides it is impossible to tell the difference between the bones of one animal and another once they are processed, he adds.

Venomous snake or just dog?

A man who used to work as an animal-bone-glue seller says what is claimed to be “poisonous snake” bone glue is actually made from bones collected from restaurants around the city.

They make it look and smell like some kind of medicine but no one knows what effect it has, he admits.

Your correspondents, pretending to be customers, visited a place in Dong Ha town in the central province of Quang Tri to buy bone glue made from black cats.

Dung, a seller, tells us 800 grammess of the substance are needed to treat migraine and this has to be made from three cats weighing around 3kg each.

For a woman named Lan, he offers to process the substance for a fee of VND3 million (USD145) if she has the three black cats.

If she does not, he has black cats, of course, but it will cost more - around VND6.6 million (USD319).

When we went to the back of his place, we only saw cats of other colors. It was clearly a con.

Asked if the glue has proved effective, Dung admits he has “only heard people say it is effective.”

A man called Linh in Ho Chi Minh City\'s Binh Thanh District claims his tiger bone glue is real, saying it came from a 40kg tiger bought from people near the Vietnam-Laos border.

Pieces advertised as tiger bone glue

Linh said, “If you are a dealer, I will charge VND9 million (USD435) for 100g and if you buy to use it yourself, I will just get VND7 million (USD338) per 100g.”

At a shop in Ho Chi Minh City\'s District 5, the owner says: “We sell only bone glue made from white horses and tigers.”

She says the bone glue is imported from China and demands VND500,000 (USD24.1) for 100g. She also says many dealers buy the substance from her shop and sell it to others for VND5 million (USD241) per 100g.

She says it is very hard to tell real bone glue from fake and that she herself once bought boxes of fake.

A woman from Quang Tri Province’s Dong Ha Town spent almost VND40 million (USD1,933) on “black cat bone glue” before she went to hospital because she could not stand the pain on her back any more.

A man in Ho Chi Minh City’s Hoc Mon District bought “tiger bone glue” for VND24 million (USD1,160) and used it for three days before he felt terrible and went to a doctor.