Haima: should ethical herbalists use it?

[Guest guest]

Hi Yehuda, & All,

 

> Thank you all for alerting me to the justified concern on products from

> Tientsin. Interestingly, I found that Mayway used to carry the Plum

> Flower Brand form of " Hai Ma Wan " , but they have discontinued carrying

> it, due to environmental concerns as we have discussed. Yet, it is my

> belief that if Sea Horses are harvested responsibly, then as

> physicians, we certainly should utilize their healing medicinal

> properties should we choose to. Again, I refer you to the SEA HORSE

> PROJECT site that I mentioned in an earlier post. That being said, I

> would definitely like to find a distributor of Plum Flower or another

> reliable manufacturer of " Hai Ma Wan " . ... Yehuda

 

Sea-horse is on the Eddangered Species List. See: http://tinyurl.com/2szb7o

 

http://idrinfo.idrc.ca/archive/corpdocs/115769/115769.txt says:

 

" Historically, medicinal use of seahorses in China was restricted to the

following five species: Hippocampus kelloggi, H. japonicus, H. histrix, H.

kuda and H. trimaculatus. Due to taxonomic confusion, these five names

likely represent more than five seahorse species. H. kelloggi is the only

seahorse species protected under China's Wildlife Protection Law (Category

II). A permit is required for its harvest. Today, any and all available seahorse

species are used in TCM. Improved living standards have made TCM more

accessible to the public, and demand has increased rapidly both for

prescription and for mass-produced patent medicines. Seahorses are the

major ingredient in a number of patent medicines, the most popular of which

is probably Nan Bao (Man's Treasure), a product sold even in North America

and Europe. "

 

> ... if Sea Horses are harvested responsibly, then as physicians, we

> certainly should utilize their healing medicinal properties

 

IMO, it is NOT ethical for professional herbalists to use products from plants

OR animals that are on the Endangered Species List, UNLESS the

supplying company is certified by the HOST-country AND the RECEIVING

country that their product (for example sea-horses) are cultivated (i.e. not

harvested from wild natural sources) and specifically excluded from the

Endangered Species List.

 

Best regards,