The government isn't keeping its promise to protect endangered species from use in traditional Chinese medicine, opposition legislators and traditional Chinese doctors said yesterday.
Scales of the pangolin -- an anteater found in tropical Africa, Asia and India which has been on the Taiwan government's endangered species list since 1995 -- are still found in 10 products on the market, said DPP legislator Chen Chao-nan (
Worse still, Chen said, is that the companies selling the pills and extracts are advertising on television that their products contain scales from the endangered species.
"If these products in fact don't contain pangolin scales, then it's false advertising and the government should act. But if they do, then the products should be recalled," he said.
The Department of Health has issued and extended the licenses for dozens of the products, despite the fact that the Council of Agriculture has prohibited their use, he said.
The anteaters' scales, which are high in protein, are dried and ground into a powder for use.
The products, Chen says, are commercially-available extracts and capsules used to treat wounds and sores and to help nursing mothers produce breast milk.
The Department of Health responded to the charge of negligence yesterday saying that pangolin is classified as a second-tier endangered species, so its use in medical products is not illegal.
Chen rejected the explanation.
"We know that there are viable replacements for these products, and there is no reason to continue using endangered species for medicine," he said.
Pangolin scales are easily replaced by two herbs with similar functions -- moyao (
"The Department of Health is going to turn Taiwan into a laughingstock for international groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)," Chen said.
Three years ago, PETA organized an international campaign against Taiwan's treatment of stray dogs, using spokespeople such as Steven Seagal, the Dalai Lama and Luciano Pavarotti to criticize the government's policy toward animals.
In 1998, the legislature passed its first law preventing cruelty to animals under pressure from PETA and other animal rights activists.
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