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

Abstract

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Combining data from consumers and traditional medicine practitioners to provide a more complete picture of Chinese bear bile markets

“…This may be due to them focussing more on other factors, such as price, which makes the source of a product less important to them (Hinsley et al submitted). However, it is also likely to be due to consumers deferring to external, trusted sources, including medical practitioners (Wang et al, 2020) or family members when making treatment decisions. To date, relatively few studies of medical practitioners in wildlife-based medicine markets have taken place, but it is clear that the role of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioners in particular is likely to be significant in China (e.g.…”

“…Cheung et al, 2018). Considering both consumer and practitioner viewpoints is therefore important for determining the characteristics of consumption in these complex markets (Wang et al, 2020).…”

SARS-CoV-2 in animals: potential for unknown reservoir hosts and public health implications

“…Pangolin is an animal species that is widely trafficked for their meat and their scales, which are used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Some of the pangolin species are now threatened with extinction owing to the illegal trading of wild populations (Wang et al 2020a). Coronavirus have been previously isolated from sick Malayan pangolins that were smuggled for black market trade and were named pangolin-CoV (Liu et al 2020).…”

Influencing consumer demand is vital for tackling the illegal wildlife trade

“…• There is an increasing amount of literature that points to the critical importance of trusted messengers when communicating with IWT consumer groups (Olmedo et al, 2020;Wang et al, 2020).…”

“…While it is possible that illegality influences social norms and supports the perception that using a given product is unacceptable (Fischer, 2004), bans also push trade underground where it is harder to monitor, and in certain contexts may create a forbidden allure around products, rendering them more attractive to some consumer groups. It is unknown the extent to which wildlife traffickers generate or stimulate demand using their own marketing activities. If they do, understanding them is critical if conservationists are to design effective counter‐marketing actions. There is an increasing amount of literature that points to the critical importance of trusted messengers when communicating with IWT consumer groups (Olmedo et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2020). Yet, we know very little about their comparative effectiveness and efficiency. We have limited information about the effectiveness and efficiency of interventions to manage demand for IWT products, both in terms of regulation and in terms of voluntary behaviour change (Bachmann et al., 2020; Dang Vu et al, 2020).…”