Journal Article

Knowledge and attitudes about the use of pangolin scale products in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) within China

Leader‐Williams, Nigel, de la Torre‐Castro, Maricela, Wang, Yifu, Turvey, Samuel T.

2020

Overview

All eight pangolin species are threatened with extinction, largely through demand for their products including scales, meat and body parts. The demand for pangolin scales has gained attention from many conservation groups due to the large volumes involved in illegal trade. Market demand in China is one of the major drivers for international illegal trade according to confiscation reports, and many conservation interventions have been attempted to reduce this demand. The Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) community plays a key role in regulating legal trade and combating illegal trade in pangolin scales. However, this community has been largely overlooked by previous conservation interventions directed at the pangolin scale trade. There has also been little research into the involvement of the TCM community in pangolin scale trade in China. To fill these knowledge gaps, we interviewed TCM doctors from 41 hospitals, shop owners/assistants from 90 TCM shops, two TCM wholesalers, and 2,168 members of the general public in Henan and Hainan provinces, China. Respondents' knowledge of and attitudes towards the pangolin scale trade were investigated using semi‐structured and structured questionnaires, with a total of 2,301 respondents. Our results show that TCM practitioners generally have poor awareness of the illegal nature of their behaviours and pangolin scale products involved. Awareness is particularly poor among participants at the end of the trade chain (i.e. end sellers). The public also generally lacked understanding of pangolin products in markets. Results also show that 20 (71%) of 28 doctors believed that the use of pangolin scales in at least some, if not all, treatments could be substituted by other ingredients. These findings suggest that raising awareness of the legality of pangolin scale products and petitioning TCM communities to use alternative substitutes for these products could constitute feasible and effective pangolin conservation interventions. This study provides the first insights into the knowledge of and attitudes towards the pangolin scale trade from the perspective of TCM practitioners, and suggests that collaborating with the TCM community is necessary to combat this illegal trade. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article. 摘要 目前现存的八种穿山甲都面临灭绝的威胁, 威胁主要源于对穿山甲制品的需求, 包括甲片制品, 肉制品和其他。由于涉及数量众多的非法贸易, 穿山甲甲片的市场需求已引起许多保护组织的关注。根据海关查获报告, 中国的市场需求是国际非法贸易的主要驱动力之一。对此, 各方已经尝试采取多种保护措施来减少中国对甲片的需求。 中医群体在管理穿山甲甲片合法贸易和打击非法贸易方面能够发挥关键作用。但是, 很多针对穿山甲的保护行动在很大程度上忽视了这个群体。关于中医群体参与中国穿山甲甲片贸易的研究也很少。 为了填补这些知识空白, 我们采访了来自中国河南和海南两省41家医院的医生, 90家中医商店的店主/助理, 两名中药批发商以及2,168名公众, 共计2,301名受访者。我们用半结构化访谈和结构问卷了解受访者对穿山甲甲片贸易的认知和态度。 我们的结果表明, 中医从业人员对自身行为和穿山甲甲片制品的非法性质普遍了解不足。贸易链末端参与者（即终端销售）的法律意识尤其薄弱。公众也通常对市场上销售的穿山甲制品缺乏足够的了解。 结果还显示, 在28位医生中, 有20位（71％）认为在至少某些（如果不是全部）治疗中使用的穿山甲甲片可以用其他成分代替。 这些调查结果表明, 提高贸易参与者对甲片制品合法性的认识以及鼓励中医群体使用替代品应是可行且有效的穿山甲保护措施。 这项研究展示了中医群体对穿山甲甲片贸易的认知和态度, 并强调了与中医界合作对有效打击穿山甲非法贸易的重要性。 A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc,Wiley
• Subject: Attitudes / Body parts / Certification / China / Confiscation / Conservation / Consumers / Consumption / Demand / demand reduction / Farms / Herbal medicine / Hospitals / illegal species trafficking / Meat / pangolins / Physicians / Polls & surveys / Provinces / Sample size / Species extinction / Stakeholders / Substitutes / Threatened species / Trade / Traditional Chinese Medicine / wildlife trade