WISE pangolin seizures coming from Today, demand for pangolins in Asia is being supplied by pangolins from Africa. Their scales are in high demand for use in traditional medicines in Asia. Pangolin have almost disappeared in China because of a medically unproven belief that a broth containing the scales has medicinal qualities, including helping … Yet, there is no scientific evidence in modern medicine to show that pangolin scales have any therapeutic or … Pangolin scales — armor-like, keratin-based plates that cover a pangolin’s body — are still being used in medicines sold and produced by Chinese companies, a new report has found. The high-end restaurants cooking foetal pangolin and party people shooting up on scales didn’t exist in the 17th century, but pangolins were used in many similarly weird ways back then. For medicinal use, even if the efficacy of the scales is uncertain, 10.48% (205/1,957) of the respondents would still use the scales for treatment and the 23.86% (467/1,957) who were vacillating were also potential pangolin consumers . They are believed to have curative properties; however, pangolin scales are made of keratin, the same material that makes human fingernails and hair, and have no proven medicinal value. In 2019 alone, Chinese customs confiscated an enormous 123 tons of pangolin scales. Pangolins sell for tens of thousands of dollars. Pangolins, which look like scaly anteaters, are considered a delicacy in China and other countries, and pangolin scales are used in traditional medicine. Like tigers for their bones and rhinos for their horns, pangolins are poached, traded, and killed for their scales and flesh. A pangolin, or scaly anteater. Bale: Pangolin scales are in demand primarily for traditional Chinese medicine. Pangolin meat is considered a delicacy in China and Vietnam and their scales are used in traditional medicines. It has no scientifically proven medicinal value. Pangolin scales are made of nothing more than keratin, a protein that makes up fingernails, hair, horns, claws, and hooves. In both regions, pangolins are killed for their meat 5 and their scales, which have been used medicinally.6 Pangolin products have been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years to treat a wide range of ailments. It’s because of these unique scales that the pangolin is exploited and considered the most trafficked animal in the world. Pangolin scales are used in traditional Asian medicine, particularly in China and Vietnam. In Java in the 1630s, one Dutch physician met a hole-digging animal with a “cold nature”, covered in carp-like scales. In 2013, six tons of live pangolins were seized in Vietnam, and over the past five years, 4.7 tons of pangolin scales have been seized in India, where the pangolin is the most traded species. What Are Pangolin Scales Used For? They’re dried, ground into powder and used to supposedly cure anything from lactation difficulties to arthritis.