A large number of pangolin scales originated in Africa and entered the Chinese medicine market after being approved by relevant departments. What is the source? Is it legal?

Recently, China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) pangolin working group applied to the State Forestry and Grassland Administration for administrative reconsideration on these issues and was accepted.

According to statistics, since February 2019, Hebei Forestry Department has approved three batches of 1,650 kg of African pangolin scales and agreed to three Chinese pharmaceutical companies to use pangolin scales to produce medicines. To this end, the CBCGDF pangolin working group applied to the Hebei Province Forestry Department to disclose the source information of African pangolin scales. In the reply received by CBCGDF afterwards, the forestry department of Hebei Province refused to disclose the information on the grounds that it was "belonging to trade secrets or personal privacy".

CBCGDF applied to the forestry department of Hebei Province for information disclosure of the approved pangolin scales, which are Manis gigantea and Manis tricuspis respectively. But read from the "Pharmacopoeia Chinensis", the description of pangolins is “This product is the scales of Manis pentadactyla Linnaeus”, that is, the scales of the medicine must be the scales of Chinese pangolins. Besides, in 2016, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) listed all eight pangolins in the world in Appendix I, on a global scale. The international pangolin trade is prohibited. So, how can so many African pangolin scales enter the country and enter the market after approval?

(Photo credit: CBCGDF)

Original Chinese article
http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4854/10625.html

By / Maggie