I begin by relaying the following story titled Endangered Elixirs, which appeared in the Beijing Scene (Volume 6, Issue 4, November 5 - 11, 1999).
While China looks to expand the global market for its traditional medicines, conservationists are trying to ensure that won't mean a greater threat to tigers, rare plants and other endangered wildlife often used in the remedies. At a conference organized by the Chinese government, World Wildlife Fund officials are urging Beijing to meet strict standards barring use of endangered species as it develops its market.
"Our mission is clear," Peter DeBrine, an official in the U.S.-based WWF, says. "We must work together to develop new global standards that will guide traditional Chinese medicine markets away from endangered species toward more environmentally healthy alternatives." DeBrine predicts Chinese traditional medicine sales worldwide will grow from an annual volume of just under US$1 billion now to US$12 billion in the next decade.
While China uses Western medicines, it also still relies on the traditional medicines from complex recipes of plant and animal parts that date back some 3,000 years. Tiger bones are used to treat rheumatism and to promote bone healing, while rhino horn has been used for fevers, says Huang Lixin, president of the San Francisco-based American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Though the use of some animals, including tigers and rhinoceroses, is already illegal in China, demand remains strong and an underground market fed by smuggling continues to flourish, says James Harkness, director of WWF's China program. But the endangered species aren't a necessity in making medicine.
Traditional doctors in China long have substituted other materials for tiger and rhino parts because they have become so rare, Huang says. One example: Bones of the sailong, a north China rat used in Tibetan medicine, are certified in China as a substitute for "Tiger Bone Wine," a famous tonic. "Any professional in the field of oriental herbal medicine would recognize that for every substance supplied by endangered species there are many effective substitutes," Huang says.
The trick, she says, is getting consumers to accept that such substitutes are just as good as the endangered ingredients. Education campaigns are needed to convince consumers, Huang says. Her organization has been promoting the use of substitutes among traditional Chinese medicine users in San Francisco and Canada over the past year. (end of story)
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