The trafficking of endangered animals—named the fourth most lucrative criminal activity in the world, just got a lot tougher in China as the government reinterpreted existing law to specifically name 420 species on the endangered list and increase the penalties for consuming them to up to ten years in prison. This includes tiger penis, rhino horn, bear bile and pangolin—a species of anteater, which China processes a 100,000 tons a year into medicine for blood stagnation in the liver and stomach. Tiger penis is used as an aphrodisiac, its bones ground to treat arthritis, it’s blood believed to strengthen the spirit and even its feces are used in treating hemorrhoids. Bear bile is used to treat colds, tapeworm and liver ailments. Both tigers and bears are raised on black-market farms and the bears are kept in undersized cages where catheters are inserted into the gall bladder to drain the bile. But rhino horn is perhaps the most prized. In the West, it is commonly believed that Rhino horn is used as an aphrodisiac, but this is untrue according to Vu Quoc Trung, a traditional medicine doctor in Hanoi, Vietnam. “According to ancient medicine books, there are only three uses for rhino horn. The first is to decrease temperature [or the dreaded ‘Heat’ as it is called in China], the second is to detoxify and the third is to improve blood quality.” If the present rate of poaching rhinos continues, experts predict they will be extinct by 2020 It is not certain how the new law will affect these farms, but it appears China is going after the consumers. “Buyers are a major motivator of large-scale illegal hunting,” said Lang Sheng, deputy head of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People's Congress. "If the market decreases, maybe the illegal trafficking will decrease." Li Shouwei, deputy head of the criminal law division of the NPC Standing Committee explained that paying for dishes made with protected wildlife at restaurants could be deemed as “buying products made from rare and endangered species.” Li stated that buying protected wildlife on the black market also falls into this category. "No trade, no killing," he added. Yet, in a culture where traditional medicine practices go back thousands of years, exotic ingredients are the norm. Geckos, snakes, ants, deer embryo, seahorses, worms, the aforementioned bear bile, etc., led me to discover the beneficial Tibetan cordyceps sinensis, also known as caterpillar fungus. It is a fascinating tale of sudden Gold Rush wealth, turf wars, Sci-fi parasitic fungi, growing only in one place in the world, the Tibetan plateau, that has transformed the lives of nomads and residents of sleepy mountain villages, bringing with it corruption, territorial imperative, new motorcycles, solar powered houses, new clothes and T.V. sets. Cordyceps sinensis, known in Asia as yartsa gunbu, literally means, “summer grass, winter worm.” But it is not a worm at all but a caterpillar of the ghost moth that buries itself in the soil not realizing it is hosting a fungus that will eat it inside out, mummifying it, and after it is dead will poke a fruiting limb out in triumph into the spring soil, declaring victory, and if left undisturbed, will turn into a mushroom, releasing spores to infect even more caterpillars. It is this stalk that hunters will look for, on hands and knees in the muddy brown carpets high in the mountains. If they search too soon, they will only find a live caterpillar, yet, if they are lucky, they can make up to $6,000 dollars in the 40-day season. When it is hunting time, after a long, weary winter, whole villages empty out, including schools, and everything is left behind to chase the ghost of the ghost moth. Ounce for ounce, it is more valuable than cocaine or gold. Because of this, it has also become an endangered species. Overharvesting and overexploitation has led to the fungus growing scarcer every year, which has only increased its market value. As a result, many harvesters have used the money to buy motorcycles to take them even higher into the mountains, often times riding three per bike, and experts are worried about the damage this may cause to the fragile ecosystem of the Tibetan plateau. So, you may be wondering, why is this mummified caterpillar worth so much money? To answer that we have to go back to the 1993 World Championships in Athletics where, after breaking records in nine track and field events, Chinese women credited a tonic made of cordyceps sinensis, turtle blood and deer penis with their remarkable feats. A decade later the SARS virus had Asians casting about for anything that would strengthen their immune systems. Studies proved the caterpillar fungus was a powerful immune system booster. And the race began in the high Himalayas. The Chinese traditional medicine industry, which in 2013 produced 516 billion RMB worth of product (approx. 82 billion USD) credits cordyceps sinensis as a cure for stomach cancer as well as breast cancer, and can benefit liver and kidneys and is a powerful tonic for impotency. More here from Wikipedia on caterpillar fungus, scroll down to research. It has also become a symbol of status. A businessman wanting to impress will often gift caterpillar fungus wrapped with a red bow in an attractive case. In China, gifting makes the world go round. Below is an example, costing 89,000 RMB (approx. $14,432 USD). Meanwhile, high on the Tibetan plateau, with the season just past, maybe the locals will get a fair price from the buyers, and some dreams will be realized, and maybe somewhere someone’s stomach cancer will be cured by taking the recommended dosage of half a kilogram of caterpillar fungus, while the plateau sighs and blows more spores about and a ghost moth caterpillar is born to dig into the earth, unaware that it will eventually be eaten alive, mummified and sold as a cure in a desperate world seeking desperate solutions. UPDATE: The photo below shows part of the 2014 crop of cordyceps sinensis (caterpillar fungus) drying outside a store in Lanzhou on June 18th.
2 Comments
Andy Monaco
5/21/2014 02:09:55 am
thank you for this...
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Mary
5/22/2014 07:11:36 am
I never know what you will write about but this was educational and unexpected!! Interesting solutions to cancer cures. So it never gets to be a butterfly or moth just a ghost..
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