Donkeys slaughtered for skin

[Catherine]

It seems that the more bizarre the idea, the more likely people are to believe it. How is bear gall bladder a medicine. We have our own gall bladders and they work better for us because they are our gall bladders. There is nothing special about a donkey skin that would give medicinal properties.

Plants as medicine are different. Plants contain small amounts of chemicals that have a gentle effect on the body. You can take  few leaves from a plant and make a tea from it(or how ever else it is used) and it will help. Because the amounts are smaller, any drug present in a plant will work with the body and have a more subtle effect. 

The common theme of these so called traditional remedies is that an animal has to suffer and die because it involves some part of the animal. They don't just eat dog meat, the dog has to be killed brutally. The donkeys have to be slaughtered to get the "medicine". They all involve cruelty.

Plants freely give us what we need, but that is too simple. They think it must be something strange for it to work as medicine.

Even in western medicine there is a lot of odd thinking. People are suddenly refusing to vaccinate their children. 
We have totally misused pain killers and antibiotics and now there is a whole new set of medical problems arising from that.
We don't use a drug that hasn't been tested on countless animals. So much of our medicine involves animal cruelty as well.

Where did we as a species get the idea that cruelty to animals is the best medicine.
When did we lose the acceptance of the herbal gifts that nature gives us?

I thought the USSR worked at being very advanced in medicine. Was it medically superstitious as well?