Chinese medicine sold in Australia has been found to include the DNA of endangered species and heavy metals, with nine out of 10 medicines containing a substance undeclared on the label, according to a report in Huff Post Australia.
Alarmingly, snow leopard DNA was found in one medicine bought over the counter in Adelaide. Researchers were shocked that an endangered animal like the snow leopard was included with only 4,000-6,500 snow leopards remaining in the wild.
The researchers said it was important for regulatory bodies to look into the trade of Chinese medicines.
The story reports: “We need to be much more vigilant, and when something like snow leopard has been discovered, it needs to be pursued,” the University of Adelaide’s Professor Roger Byard, a co-author of the study, told HuffPost Australia.
It's time for the Australian Government to crack-down on the trade in Chinese medicine.
Will you join me in demanding Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull directs the Wildlife Trade Regulation Office of the Department of the Environment to develop a broader and more comprehensive protocol to test the ingredients of imported traditional medicines and to shut down operations whose products contain endangered species like snow leopards?
Please sign and share the petition.
