China Pledges Sustainable Trade in Traditional Medicine
11/4/99
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Title: China pledges sustainable trade in traditional medicine
Source: Environment News Network
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: November 4, 1999
Byline: Margot Higgins
The increasing demand for traditional medicines has taken a heavy
toll on many wild animals including the rhinoceros.
Traditional Chinese medicines way soon wear a greener label.
Officials in China have agreed to secure a sustainable trade in the
wild plants and animals used in traditional remedies. A three-day
conference organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature, which
included several international conservation leaders, was the first of
six conferences that will deal with the growing traditional medicine
industry.
"Anytime you have a (lead consuming and producing nation) say we
agree that the conservation of these species is of value, then that
has to be a good thing for the entire conservation system," said
Simon Habel, North American director of TRAFFIC the wildlife trade
monitoring program for WWF.
The pledge is timely as China is modernizing its traditional medicine
industry in hopes of cornering the fast-growing world market for
natural medicines. WWF has calculated that traditional Chinese
medicine sales worldwide will grow from just under the present $1
billion to $12 billion in the next decade.
The World Health Organization estimates that 80 percent of the world
population depends on plant and animal based remedies. The increasing
demand for traditional medicines has already had a heavy toll on many
wild animals including the tiger and the rhinoceros.
"If TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) is to develop, we must get
past the problem of endangered species," Dequan Ren, vice general
director of the State Administration and Management for Medicinal
Products, told the more than 120 delegates as the conference opened.
"Our collective feeling is that there is no contradiction between TCM
and conservation. For TCM to progress, it must take a sustainable
course."
The tiger and other endangered species are not a necessity in
traditional medicine recipes.
The meeting was marked by clear messages from WWF and other
conservationists that without a collaborative effort, the tiger and
other endangered species used in medicines would not survive, nor
would traditional Chinese medicine prosper.
Conference members discussed how to stop the use of endangered
plants, which are often removed from fragile environments. They also
stressed that tiger farming and reintroduction of tigers from zoos
into the wild are not viable options to save wild tigers, which now
probably number fewer than 6,000.
One conservationist spoke of the need for "green" standards in TCM,
while another suggested that China restrict the use of natural
products from some wild species.
Tiger bones have traditionally been used to treat arthritis and to
promote bone healing. But the tiger and other endangered species are
not a necessity in traditional medicine recipes. Some doctors have
successfully substituted other ingredients such as the north China
rat.
Nevertheless, it can be difficult to convince consumers that the
substitutes are as affective, especially in societies that have
believed in the efficiency of tiger and rhino remedies for thousands
of years.