Project Summary:
Animals Asia and the American college of Chinese Medicine (ACTCM) have come together to collaborate in an effort to educate the educators on the consequences and potential risk of using endangered species in traditional medicine. The symposium brought together herbal vendors, practitioners, scholars, government officials and policy makers from the fields of Traditional Chinese Medicine and environmental conservation. It is a project over two years including conferences, training in China and the US.
Project outcome:
The symposium was an historic gathering of experts from the fields of Traditional Chinese Medicine and international wildlife conservation. The attendance of Professor Feng Yibin from the School of Chinese Medicine at the University of Hong Kong, Traditional Chinese Medicine Professor Liu Zheng Cai and Dr Wang Sheng Xian, a Chengdu pathologist were crucial to the outcome of this event. They presented their work on the availability and effectiveness of herbal alternatives to bear bile and the potential human health implications of consuming bile extracted from bears which are of so badly diseased due to the process of bile extraction.
The International Symposium for the Conservation of Endangered Species and Traditional Chinese Medicine is one step towards the development of TCM as a more ecologically sustainable medicine. The ACTCM’s vision is to become an international centre of educational excellence that advances professional collaboration and ecologically sustainable medicines and to promote increased research into viable alternatives to endangered medicinal species.
Through this symposium, ACTCM launched the issue of endangered species conservation, as well as the inhumane treatment of medicinal species such as Asiatic Black Bears, to the forefront of attention of TCM professionals from across China.
Historically there have been events aimed at discussing the conservation of single species used in traditional Chinese medicines such as tiger parts but this event was unique in that, it was supported by a national TCM organization in China and has addressed such a diversity of topics within the broad theme of endangered species conservation and TCM.
The symposium brought together over 250 herbal vendors, practitioners, scholars, government officials, and policy makers from the fields of TCM and environmental conservation. ACTCM selected 18 leaders from across China to address conservation policy, alternatives to endangered species, as well as specific medicinal species such as bears, pangolin and turtles.
The symposium also convened the first meeting of a working group of experts dedicated to this theme of endangered species and TCM. This group consists of renowned researchers from Chengdu University of TCM and Shanghai University of TCM as well as WWF scientists. ACTCM looks forward to building stronger partnerships with these institutions and organizations and collaborating on future research and educational projects as well as policy recommendations.
Through this project, ACTCM has laid a foundation for ongoing dialog about endangered species conservation and a more sustainable future of Chinese herbal medicine.
Start Date
November 2009
Completion date
November 2009