{"id":36880,"date":"2020-02-25T11:14:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-25T11:14:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-06-20T17:50:25","modified_gmt":"2020-06-20T17:50:25","slug":"11880-china-s-state-insurers-have-stopped-covering-pangolin-medicines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/nature\/11880-china-s-state-insurers-have-stopped-covering-pangolin-medicines\/","title":{"rendered":"China\u2019s state insurers have stopped covering pangolin medicines"},"content":{"rendered":"

The dropping by China\u2019s state insurers of medicines derived from pangolin scales could help save threatened populations in Africa.<\/p>\n

The move was announced<\/a> last August and took effect in January this year,\u00a0a month before Chinese researchers suggested the scaly mammal may have passed the COVID-19 virus<\/a> from bats to humans in Wuhan.<\/p>\n

In a new report<\/a>, the Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC) claims that reducing the demand for pangolin scales from\u00a0medicine producers in China \u201cmay create a shift away from traditional cultural beliefs towards an acceptance that there is no medicinal value in products made from animal parts\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sarah Stoner, director of intelligence at the WJC, said the decision to stop covering products containing pangolin scales \u201cnot only sends out a clear message to users but will also impact [their] ability to claim insurance\u201d.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0general\u00a0trade in pangolins is prohibited in China<\/a> except for scientific research, captive breeding, exhibition or special purposes including traditional Chinese medicine.<\/p>\n

China is taking measures to crack down on the illegal trade. In December, authorities arrested 18 people following a year-long investigation, Stoner noted.<\/p>\n

She also said China is planning additional steps to protect pangolins, including upgrading its endangered status from Class II to Class I.<\/p>\n

The WJC report analysed government data on scales trafficked and seized between 2016 and 2019 and calculated that 206 tonnes had been confiscated globally \u2013 though this is probably just a small proportion of the total.<\/p>\n

The report noted a significant increase in the last four years in the volume of pangolin scales being smuggled by organised crime networks.<\/p>\n

New smuggling routes<\/h2>\n

The report identifies Nigeria as an emerging hub for trade in pangolin scales. The\u00a0new route, which has only\u00a0only been documented since May 2018, brings the scales\u00a0from\u00a0Nigeria to Vietnam via Singapore. According to the report, this trade\u00a0may reflect \u201cthe strengthening relationship between traffickers operating in these countries or an emergence of new trafficking networks in Nigeria.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nigeria and Vietnam together accounted\u00a0for about 70% of all seizures between\u00a02016-2019. Along the route, scales were both smuggled on their own and in combination with ivory.<\/p>\n

Since the hunting to near extinction of all four Asian pangolin species, Africa has\u00a0become the major source of pangolin scales, with Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon being the biggest players.<\/p>\n

More action needed<\/h2>\n

While the move by China is welcome, it would not go far enough in saving threatened African pangolins, according to wildlife expert Sam Weru, a Kenya-based conservation consultant.<\/p>\n

China should ban the manufacture and use of traditional medicines from endangered wildlife and remove them from informal markets in order to\u00a0dent\u00a0international poaching and trafficking networks, he observed.<\/p>\n

This month, researchers in Guangzhou claimed that pangolins may have bridged the COVID-19 coronavirus from bats to humans. The outbreak has prompted\u00a0China to put a temporary ban on trade in\u00a0wildlife<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0it\u00a0is now facing calls for a permanent ban.<\/p>\n

A holistic approach to\u00a0pangolin poaching and trafficking is needed, with a\u00a0focus\u00a0on parts of central Africa that are affected by political instability and conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cScaling law enforcement is critical in ending the illegal transnational trade in the species, coupled with the involvement of communities in source countries to help in protecting African pangolins,\u201d said Weru.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Users will no longer be reimbursed by state insurance schemes, but more action is needed to save African pangolins, says report<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3251,"featured_media":60763,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[764],"tags":[539,551,610],"hashtags":[],"country":[20000110],"class_list":["post-36880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nature","tag-endangered-species","tag-health","tag-wildlife","country-china"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nChina\u2019s state insurers have stopped covering pangolin medicines | Dialogue Earth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Users will no longer be reimbursed by state insurance schemes, but more action is needed to save African pangolins, says report\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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