China’s Got the Wrong Medicine
Rather than trying to regulate the trade in tiger and rhino products, the government should eliminate demand for them.
Products made from farmed tigers are now allowed.
Photographer: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images
China’s decision to reverse a 25-year-old ban and allow trade, in “special cases,” in products made from critically endangered tigers and rhinos has provoked a predictable firestorm of criticism. China has sought to portray the move as a responsible way to regulate such goods: The goal is to produce a steady supply of things like rhino horns and tiger penises — used in traditional Chinese medicine, or TCM — from farmed animals, thus cutting into the black market for poached ones.
The international community isn’t buying the argument, and it shouldn’t. Chinese demand drives the global market for products made from endangered species; legalizing even a small part of it will only serve to whet the appetites of Chinese consumers for more. More importantly, China can promote the TCM industry without such products, as several of its neighbors have already proven.