China removes pangolin scales from list of traditional medicines

The scales and ingredients from pangolin are commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine and sold on the black market. AFP

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The most poached mammal in the world, and suspected of having played a role in the transmission to humans of the new coronavirus, has been withdrawn from the latest edition of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. This is due to "the exhaustion of wild resources," say the Chinese media.

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With our correspondent in Beijing , Stéphane Lagarde

Scorpions, millipedes and other earthworms are a concern. They can replace pangolin in terms of improving blood circulation and, as far as scales are concerned, pig feet will do very well as anti-inflammatories, suggest certain representatives of the Chinese Academy of Traditional Medicine .

This decision to remove the wild animal from the official list of Chinese medicines comes a few days after the announcement of the Forest and Grasslands Administration which classified the manids as "  first level protected animals  " like pandas and tigers. Because before thinking of a new "pangolin diplomacy", we must first save the species.

Despite the ban on hunting it in 2007 and then importing it in 2018, the pangolin continues to be the subject of all traffic. It is sought after in particular for its dried, grilled scales then sold on the black market before being grated into powder to treat - according to traditional beliefs - rheumatism, certain skin diseases or even promote breastfeeding, even when scientists have questioned these alleged therapeutic virtues.

According to a state survey carried out in 2003, the pangolin's habitat was concentrated in only 11 Chinese provinces, south of the Yangtze river. Their number has increased from one million individuals to 64,000 in two decades, a figure reduced to less than 49,000 during the last census carried out in 2008.

Another exit from pharmacies, noticed by the Chinese media: Huanglian Yanggan pills containing, as it is indicated on the box, bat excrement.

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  • China
  • Health and Medicine
  • Coronavirus

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