Harare
ASIAN medicine has traditionally been seen by Western conservationists as
a major obstacle in the fight to save endangered mammals. But a new conciliatory
approach to Eastern healing methods looks like being adopted at the meeting of
signatories to the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Harare,
Zimbabwe, this week.
Rather than condemning the use of endangered animal parts out of hand, the
new approach seeks to help Asian researchers find alternatives. Along with the
governments of Britain, Japan and South Korea, TRAFFIC, which monitors the
global trade in wildlife and is funded by the World Wide Fund for Nature and the
World Conservation Union, submitted a report to the CITES meeting conceding that
medicine using animal parts is 鈥渓egitimate鈥� and can effectively treat
life-threatening fevers
(鈥淐hanging the game鈥�, New 杏吧原创, 7 June, p 14).
TRAFFIC has this week obtained support for its stance from the CITES
secretariat and looks likely to be backed by most of the convention鈥檚 139 member
states.
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鈥淚 think it is important to note that traditional medicines around the
world鈥攅ven Western medicines鈥攗se plants and animals, and East Asia
feels particularly victimised that its medicine system has been targeted,鈥� says
Judy Mills, TRAFFIC鈥檚 East Asia director. The view in the West that rhinos are
slaughtered to provide horn for the manufacture of aphrodisiacs and other
frivolous concoctions is a myth, she says. In fact, the keratin in the horn is
used in medicines that can save thousands of people from lethal fevers every
year.
The softer line seems to be getting a favourable response. In a message to
CITES delegates, the Chinese National Association of Medicine Practitioners and
Research expresses support for moves to prevent the poaching of endangered
mammals. The association says it is conducting a set of trials designed to
replace pharmaceuticals derived from animal parts with herbal medicines. China
has recently removed rhino horn from its official pharmacopoeia, replacing it
with water buffalo horn. Chinese researchers are also on the verge of announcing
an official substitute for tiger bone, which is used to treat arthritis, after
conducting extensive clinical trials.
鈥淐ITES is, for the first time, taking on traditional medicine as a separate
issue, realising it is not going to go away,鈥� says Mills. 鈥淎t the same time, the
traditional medicine community is getting the message that wildlife conservation
is not going to go away.鈥�