Viagra has surely had many unintended consequences,
but one of the strangest is the help it might bring to
vulnerable animal species. Since the drug was
introduced in 1998, the trade in some wild animal
parts traditionally used in the creation of
''impotence cures'' has fallen drastically. And two
researchers who have studied that trade in Canada and
Alaska say they believe the link is no coincidence.
Sales of Alaskan reindeer antlers -- the velvet is
used in traditional Chinese medicine to enhance
potency -- declined by 72 percent from 1997 to 1998,
according to the researchers, Frank von Hippel, a
conservation biologist at the University of Alaska,
and his brother,William, a professor of psychology at
the University of New South Wales. Meanwhile, sales of
hooded and harp seal penises fell from around 40,000
in 1996 to 20,000 in 1998. Other factors undoubtedly
played a role; both reindeer and seals are also killed
for their fur and meat, for example. But in an article
they published in Environmental Conservation this
fall, the von Hippels noted that while sales of
reindeer meat fell in the same period, they did not
fall nearly as far as antler sales. And the Canadian
government, in a report on seal management in 2001,
also cited Viagra as one factor among several
(including higher fuel and ammunition costs and the
phasing out of government subsidies for seal meat)
that contributed to a decline in the seal trade.
