Traditional Chinese medicine and international species' protection

As we are currently in the Chinese "Year of the Tiger" it is not surprising that there is a more intensive media focus on the threat of extinction that these cats are facing. The illegal hunting of rhinoceros in South Africa to serve the markets in Asia is also providing headline news. The hunting of these animals is associated with the ongoing and even growing global demand for TCM products. While neither tiger nor rhinoceros products for use in TCM can be obtained legally here in Europe, there are numerous other groups of animals - which the general public is not so aware of - whose existence may well be threatened to a very significant extent by the global trade in TCM products. Among these are primarily pangolin, turtles, seahorse, snakes and sea cucumber. The article presented here gives an overview of the importance of these wild animals for TCM products, the implications for species protection and the current developments in international legislation on species protection. © Urban & Vogel.