Plant substances as alternatives for animal products in traditional medicines.

Bell, Celia M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3270-7081, Simmonds, Monique S. J., Appiah, Sandra S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7497-3388 and Howes, Melanie-Jayne R. (2006) Plant substances as alternatives for animal products in traditional medicines. Working Paper. Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, London. . [Monograph]

Abstract

An investigation of plant species as alternatives to the use of products obtained from endangered animal species (bear bile, rhino horn and tiger bone) was undertaken with
financial support from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) Charitable Trust. The research was
carried out by Middlesex University (UK) in collaboration with the Jodrell Laboratory, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (UK). Products from several endangered species are used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for a variety of purposes. Bear bile (Xiong Dan) and rhino horn (Xi Jiao) are primarily classified as anti-inflammatory and fever-reducing remedies and tiger bone (Hu Gu) has been used as an anti-rheumatic/anti-arthritic remedy; the pathology of arthritis also involves inflammatory mechanisms. With the popularity of Traditional Medicine increasing, a continued demand for these products poses an ongoing and major threat to the survival of these species, all of which are listed under Appendix 1 of CITES. This study was undertaken in response to a recognised need for more research into possible herbal substitutes.

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