A young pangolin. - Yingboon Chongsomchai / ZSL / SIPA

Pointed at in the coronavirus epidemic, is the pangolin finally out of the woods? China has removed pangolin ingredients from the official list of products in the traditional pharmacopoeia, according to official media.

Likewise, products like pills made from bat excrement were withdrawn from the official Chinese pharmacopoeia this year, the Health Times newspaper reported , which does not specify the date of this ban .

"Wildlife resources exhausted" are withdrawn from the traditional Chinese pharmacopoeia, said the Health Times , which did not specify the exact reason for the withdrawal of pangolin, which is the animal most hunted by poachers and traffickers around the world. He is suspected of having been the intermediate host which would have allowed the transmission of the new bat coronavirus to the human species.

The highest level of protection in the country

Pangolin scales and ingredients are priced high on the black market and are widely used in traditional Chinese medicine, although scientists say they have no therapeutic value.

On Friday, the Chinese Forest Administration announced that pangolins now enjoy the highest level of protection in the country, a move that was welcomed on Saturday by the conservation organization WWF.

In recent months, China has banned the sale of wild animals for food consumption, citing the risk of communicable diseases to humans, but this trade remains legal for scientific research or for traditional medicine.

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  • Animals
  • China
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