A screenshot of the Healers For the Wild microsite. The site is part of social media and online campaigns organised by Traffic to spread awareness of the need for sustainability in TCM.

The swanky neighbourhood is probably the last place one would associate with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) but traders, physicians, importers, suppliers, wholesalers, and manufacturers had turned up from as far as Ipoh, Johor, and Penang on a mission.

They were looking for ways in which they could play a role in protecting wildlife by replacing the animal parts they have traditionally used for medicine with more sustainable ingredients.

Organised by wildlife trade monitoring group Traffic, the conference saw 105 participants from the industry – so many wanted to attend that spaces had to be added to the meeting rooms – and was supported by the Federation of Chinese Physicians and Medicine Dealers Associations of Malaysia (FCPMDAM) and the Malaysia-China Chamber of Commerce for Traditional Medicines and Health Products (MCHM).

The conference brought together both industry members and government agencies, including 15 representatives from the Wildlife and National Parks Department Peninsular Malaysia (Perhilitan), and others from the Health Ministry’s National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency, Traditional and Complementary Medicine Division, and the Pharmacy Enforcement Division.

The conference provided TCM industry members with the chance to hear from and interact directly with these regulatory government agencies on a wide range of issues, such as wildlife and healthcare laws, permits, and registration requirements.

The FCPMDAM is an umbrella organisation consisting of 44 TCM associations, with more than 7,000 practitioner and trader members throughout Malaysia; the MCHM has over 100 traders, manufacturers, and distributors among its members.

Participants at the conference held on May 7 at the KLGCC. So many turned up that spaces had to be added to the meeting room. — Traffic

“The animal and plant resources used by TCM practitioners and herbalists are precious treasures of nature. Therefore, we are also concerned about ecological diversity and sustainability,” explains Datuk Ho Teck Keun, MCHM president.

“If natural resources are overexploited, the TCM industry will be the first to suffer when losing valuable medical resources,” he adds.

The federation’s head of finance, Lim Shih Chiang, describes the conference as “very informative”.

“We managed to get a lot of information from the government side, especially about wildlife.

“Before that, maybe a lot we weren’t sure about, but through this symposium we got a lot of answers,” he says.

The conference was part of the Ren Xin (Kind Heart) initiative by Traffic.

Age old tradition

Practised for thousands of years, TCM has a long history in China and among the Chinese diaspora, with many Chinatowns around the world having at least one shop.

Despite the availability of modern public hospitals and clinics and cutting-edge medicine, many in the Chinese community continue to patronise such stores to buy remedies for everything from the common cold to infertility.

Unfortunately, TCM is also blamed for driving poaching, especially for vulnerable species like tigers, pangolins, sun bears and saiga antelopes, whose parts can be worth thousands of dollars on the black market.

The TCM community is currently facing challenges related to the use of protected species, prompting a growing awareness among both practitioners and consumers about the environmental impacts of such practices.

This shift in consciousness is leading to increased scrutiny of ingredient sourcing as well as a push towards more sustainable alternatives.

One of the key challenges the industry faces is the reliance on ingredients derived from endangered species, such as highly valued bear bile and deer musk.

This not only threatens the survival of these species but also puts TCM practices at odds with international wildlife protection laws, creating legal and ethical dilemmas for practitioners and consumers alike.

The Kind Hearts initiative encourages the TCM community to challenge the status quo by avoiding the use of ingredients derived from endangered or protected wildlife.

Through educational conferences, exhibitions, and social media outreach, the initiative has successfully pulled back the curtain on the legal and environmental dangers associated with using threatened species, whether locally or globally, for medicinal purposes.

Traffic has explored a few different channels when it comes to spreading awareness, such as conferences like this with industry leaders and government representatives.

It is also targeting future generations of healers by hosting educational programmes for TCM students to instil sustainable practices early on, as well as leveraging social media campaigns using influencers to reach a broader, younger audience.

On top of these multifaceted forms of getting the initiative’s message across, Traffic has also developed a handbook detailing the ins and outs of switching to an alternative form of TCM, touching on everything from Malaysian laws to disease types and formulations.

The handbook and other resources are now available at a newly launched microsite, healersforthewild.com, which also serves as a repository for all updates from the initiative.

Through the microsite and online adverts, the initiative has seen success amounting to roughly 44,000 site visitors and 22 million impressions within three months.

Changing times, changing minds

However, the organising team behind the Kind Hearts initiative highlights a metric that weighs even heavier than the analytics from the microsite, which is the number of minds they have managed to change.

“There were a few people in the federation who were quite responsive and proactive, and they introduced us to other associations, other industry players,” says Leslie Tsen, Traffic’s programme officer behind the initiative’s implementation.

“Then more interested people started coming on board. So we were starting to see that snowball effect, and it was nice that there were people we didn’t expect, like the distributors and manufacturers, who we thought were going to be really difficult groups to reach.”

Using focus groups, participants from different backgrounds in the industry worked together with the handbook’s creation team to refine the knowledge base for TCM consumers and practitioners, explains Tsen.

“We could give you a bunch of numbers to measure metrics, but these are the kinds of things that show us that people are actually changing their minds, which is ultimately what you want,” he says, attributing the initiative’s success to changing the perspectives of large industry players.

With that being said, changing a multibillion dollar industry is not without challenges, one being the verification process of the information that went into the handbook, such as sustainable alternative paths.

“It’s not a one-to-one replacement. The whole formulation has to be changed. So there was a lot of back and forth with TCM experts to try to find something that really doesn’t use endangered or protected species to put it into the handbook,” Tsen says.

Senior programme officer Serene Chng says that encountering individuals who are hesitant to explore a new path after practising traditions they have known all their lives – even over generations – poses a significant challenge in the initiative’s campaign.

“In the end, they realise that we are actually trying to help them. We try to make them understand that we are not out here to ‘get’ them but to provide them with information so that they can better practice legally and save their business,” she says.

The conferences held by Traffic, adds Chng, also helps bridge the gap between the TCM industry and government officials.

Historically, TCM professionals have been hesitant to engage with government figures, often feeling intimidated. However, during the panel discussion at the conference, this dynamic shifted. Industry members felt more comfortable asking questions, and government representatives were able to gather valuable feedback to improve future regulations.

“There were a lot of changes in culture involved, just not necessarily Chinese culture,” says Chng.

In this day and age when information is just a click away, it is crucial to stay informed to make well-informed decisions.

While TCM is still a staple for many and will undeniably live on for generations to come, ensuring that it is practised with the best interest of both humans and wildlife at heart is a responsibility that will be made easier with the introduction of sustainable alternatives.

Promoting sustainable practices in TCM is crucial for preserving biodiversity and ensuring that future generations can continue to benefit from both nature and traditional healing methods.

By embracing ethical sourcing and alternative ingredients, the TCM community can protect endangered species while upholding the integrity and effectiveness of traditional medicine.

By CATHERINE VASANTHI SEBASTIAN