Recently the streets of Taipei have been festooned with signs posted by the sellers of guiling paste, touting its success in curing chronic sore and hoarse throats as well as its salubrious effects on the liver. The paste, made from turtle shell, was originally a food used in Guangdong and Guangxi. In Hong Kong it is sold at stands like those that sell xiancao herbal jelly in Taiwan. On a hot day, sitting down and drinking a refreshing bowl of it is a good way to cool down. A woman buying some on Tihua Street in Taipei says she likes it because it does wonders for her skin, just like xiancao jelly.

There are so many species of turtles and tortoises--both protected and unprotected-- and each has its unique shell. Telling them apart causes researchers big headaches. The Burmese star tortoise and Geoemyda grandis are protected, whereas the Cyclemys dentata and Cuora amboinensis are not. （courtesy of Chang Hsien-cheh）

The paste has traveled still farther from home, and now can be found in Singapore and all over the United States. It seems to be harboring an ambition to become a standard in Chinese cuisine everywhere. Yet are there problems associated with eating guiling paste?

Turtle shell has recently joined rhino horn, tiger bone, and bear gall as an ingredient whose use in traditional Chinese medicine has come to the attention of CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. Whereas for those other animal products the focus has been on smuggling and the total amount being consumed, for the shells of chelonians (turtles, tortoises and terrapins), the Council of Agriculture (the ROC agency in charge of ecological and conservation measures), conservation groups and even makers and dealers of Chinese medicines are most concerned with determining which species bore the shells being traded.

Which turtle's shell?

In early April traditional Chinese medicine containing turtle shell was shipped from Taiwan by a Dutch dealer. In Holland it was confiscated by the police, and criminal charges were brought against the importer.

The circumstances, however, differ markedly from the trade in rhino horns and tiger bones, for whereas there are only a few species of rhinos and tigers and all are endangered and thus listed as protected animals, so far 12 families and nearly 400 species of chelonians have been discovered. Protected species account for only a tenth of them, and there is nothing illegal about making medicine from the remaining 90 percent.

Yet Chinese practitioners of Chinese medicine have traditionally classified turtles and tortoises into five or six general types based on considerations of locale and medicinal effect. The groupings vary greatly from those of Western zoology. Makers and dealers of Chinese medicines may even market the shells of all assortment of species as just plain "turtle shell." These firms simply do not know if some of the shells were taken from protected species.

Today, with growing international consciousness about the importance of protecting animals, nations are no less concerned with protecting themselves. Holland simply wants to be absolutely clear about which shells are being sold within its borders, and so, without regard to the circumstances, it just went ahead and confiscated the goods in question, leaving the Dutch importer and the Chinese exporter, the Mingtung Chinese Medical Company, to call for help in all quarters.

Millions of shells come through customs

Though offering immediate results, Western medicines often have bad side effects, whereas traditional Chinese medicines are usually safe and mild. With the growing popularity of natural medicine and health food, Chinese traditional prescriptions have gradually been gaining popularity in the West. In recent years, Taiwan has been promoting so-called "scientific Chinese medicine," with clear labeling and strict testing. The days of secret formulas are past, and exports to Europe and America are growing year by year. The assistant general manager of Mingtung, a Mr. Chang, points out that overseas Chinese account for only about half of the Western demand. When he went to Europe to lecture about Chinese medicine, many caucasian physical therapists and other medical professionals attended his classes. In Germany and Switzerland some Chinese medicines have already been certified.

But the Dutch turtle shell incident, by showing dealers' inability to distinguish between species, may have cast a dark shadow across the market for traditional Chinese medicines in Europe that will affect all of the twenty-some Taiwanese exporters. And if calls for a ban on the use of chelonian parts follow, the traders won't be the only ones who are hurt. Consumers too will be hit, because turtle shell is one of the most common ingredients in Chinese traditional prescriptions.

According to Chang Hsien-cheh, a professor at China Medical College, there are 13 components of Chinese medicines traditionally taken from protected animal species. For quite some time now, the industry has virtually ceased using many of them--including elephant skin, otter liver and rhino horn, for which trade has already been banned. Other ingredients, such as bear gall, antelope horn, and musk are prescribed more frequently, but none so often as turtle shell. According to records of the Board of Foreign Trade, the amount of turtle shell being imported into Taiwan has been surpassing 200,000 kilos or even 300,000 kilos per annum. When you consider that a sun-dried shell weighs only a few ounces, this means that more than a million shells come through ROC customs each year.

There is a long history of turtle shells being used in Chinese medicine. Shen Nong's Herbal Classic-- the oldest text about traditional Chinese medicines, written more than 2000 years ago--clearly lists the properties and main medical uses of turtle and tortoise shells. Good for the kidneys, chelonian shell is largely used for treating sore feet and hips, strengthening the bones and muscles and treating long-term diarrhea. Today Chinese herbalists also prescribe it for treating pancreas infections and tumors. When reading ancient medical texts, Chang Hsien-cheh discovered that there were more than 117 common prescriptions containing chelonian shell. And guiling paste, which is regarded as a food rather than a medicine, is not even one of them.

Three in one

Chelonian shell, so unyielding on the outside, is a great repository of medicinal substances within. Combined with pilose antlers, it is found in the "four treasure" and "turtle and deer double-immortal" jellies which are widely sold and commonly prescribed to treat osteoporosis. Today more and more people are falling victim to disorders involving the spine and nervous system. According to Lin Cheng-wu, the owner of the Seng Yuang medicine company, they are the biggest consumers of turtle shell.

When exam season rolls around, the parents of many students go to herbal pharmacies to buy the traditional prescription called "Confucius' pillow." Liao Swun-fu, the third generation of his family to run the Huang Chang-sheng pharmacy, points out that turtle shell has long been used together with pilose antler, "dragon bones" (fossil bones now sometimes claimed to be dinosaur bones) and milkwort in this popular prescription said to increase memory and spur wisdom.

In Chinese medicine, the liver and tendons are thought to have a special relationship, as are the kidneys and the bones. Being good for the tendons and bones, turtle and tortoise shells are hence also thought to be good for the kidneys. Far-fetched explanations are often made about how traditional prescriptions affect the kidneys and increase male sex drive. Huang explains that turtle shell's effects shouldn't be so narrowly defined. Rather it should be regarded as increasing general vitality, just as developing skills in waidan kung fu can develop one's qi. And so whether one suffers from a sore back, nagging sore throat, or weak blood and qi; whether one is male or female, old or young; there are appropriate prescriptions containing turtle shell that vary according to age and condition. In traditional Chinese pharmacies, turtle shell is mixed with hemlock parsley, Sichuan lovage root and human hair in "Buddha's hand soup," a common prescription said to help ease childbirth. Sometimes claims are even made that turtle shell can cure infertility in women.

Twenty years ago clinical experiments carried out in the West determined that chelonian shell does indeed stimulate the nerves in the lumbar vertebrae, and, by loosening the pelvis, does help with childbirth. In 1967 a Japanese analysis of the chemical components of turtle shell found that the abundant chondroitinsulfuric acid distilled from it strengthens the immune system.

Many more clinical records need to be kept about the medicinal effects of turtle and tortoise shell in traditional Chinese medicine before prescriptions will have an ample scientific basis. Yet if chelonian shell really had no medicinal effects, people never would have been using it for so long, holds Li Feng-mao, a researcher at the Academia Sinica's Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy. Chinese medicine and its prescriptions are the products of empirical science, with certain truths that cannot be doubted.

Because chelonian shell is used in foods, tonics and curatives, demand for it has been steadily rising in mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea, and even overseas Chinese communities in Europe and America. Now international conservation groups are urgently trying to understand how Asian consumption is affecting turtle and tortoise populations.

Guess whose shell I am?

Chelonians, including marine and freshwater turtles as well as land-lubbing tortoises, can be found everywhere but Antarctica. In Taiwan, the sea turtles that get caught in fishermen's nets are often set free as a Buddhist gesture of goodwill toward other living beings. The hawksbill turtle has been used for tortoiseshell in spectacle frames and clothing accessories, and in the past a small number were used to make dried meat. But because the few species of sea turtles are all protected and their small populations would make for an unstable supply, and because the amount of gelatin in them is far below what is found in freshwater turtles and tortoises, few manufacturers use sea turtles as a source for traditional Chinese medicine.

And although Taiwan itself has five species of freshwater turtles, due to the high cost of labor here, medicine dealers import all of their tortoise and freshwater turtle shells from mainland China and the Southeast Asian countries of Indonesia, Burma and Vietnam. With environmental conservation yet to have come of age, the medicinal effects of turtle shells are first and foremost. These companies simply don't care much about which species provided them.

Furthermore, relatively little environmental research has been carried out on chelonians. In the developing countries of Southeast Asia, new species are still being discovered. Currently the only species receiving much attention are seven large species of sea turtles that roam the world's oceans, including the hawksbill and the leatherback. Five are classed as endangered. For the remaining species of turtles and tortoises, apart from a dozen or more that have limited ranges, such as the giant turtles of the Galapagos islands and the radiated tortoise of Madagascar, which CITES list as protected, few people know or care much about the living habits or populations of most turtle species, and fewer still can distinguish between them.

Indeed, it's not just the importers and exporters who have problems telling them apart. The people who should be keeping watch, customs and environmental personnel and police--as well as even the vast majority of zoologists both here and abroad--also find it a daunting task. And as for what percentage of traded chelonian shells are from protected species, no nation can provide reliable figures. Even an international environmental organization like CITES, with more than 100 member nations and ample resources, has only taken its first steps toward protecting Asian turtle species by collecting basic information about how many species of Asian chelonians exist and the general situation regarding their use.

Five percent are protected species?

In July of last year the Council of Agriculture appointed Chang Hsien-cheh to conduct a survey to determine exactly which species' shells were ending up for sale in Taiwan. Taking the 30 firms that legally import turtle and tortoise shells, Chang looked through one container after another, and could only determine the species of 60% of them. About 5% were protected species, including the Burmese eyed turtle, the Burmese star tortoise, and the Geomyda grandis. What portion of the remaining 40% was protected is anyone's guess.

Wu Sheng-hai, an associate professor of zoology at Chunghsing University, isn't surprised the imported shells included those of protected species. The problem is that turtle shells look more or less alike. For importing countries, an inability to tell them apart, combined with the great size of the trade and the large number of people involved, make it virtually impossible to carry out legally based seizures of protected species' shells and punish the offending importers or to implement a general ban on the import and export of products made from protected species. Hence, it is hardly surprising to find that some shells belong to protected species.

Turtles are ancient animals. Relying on their protective shell, they've survived by just waddling along for 200 million years. They've shown true Darwinian fitness. Traditional local fishing hasn't made much of an impact on turtle species, and traditional Chinese medicine has been using turtle shell for thousands of years without ever a shortage of supply. Chang says that people in the field have never even bothered to research the possibility of turtle shells being replaced with other ingredients. So how is it that today turtles are facing a never-seen-before threat?

Good meat, good pets

According to Turtles of the World, which was published by the Smithsonian Institution in 1989, excessive culling, along with highway construction in developed countries, is a main reason turtle and tortoise populations are now facing a general crisis. In particular, the trade in turtles as meat and pets is booming as never before. With tortoises and turtles of large and small species alike being adopted as pets or turned into culinary delicacies, there's no way for these chelonians to fulfill their duty of passing on their genetic legacy.

At the 1993 World Track and Field Championships, "Ma's Army" of Shenyang came away with three golds, and all three medals for the women's 3000 meters. Suddenly there was a lot of talk about the turtle soup and soft-shelled turtle blood that coach Ma was feeding his runners, which were supposedly giving them the energy of tigers and healthy glowing complexions, and enabling them to withstand very heavy training without succumbing to injuries like other runners.

The glamour connected with the club caused great difficulties for international conservation efforts. Today there are still frequent media reports in East and Southeast Asia about how athletes have increased their competitive abilities by drinking turtle blood.

In fact people have used turtles East and West, past and present. In the 16th and 17th centuries, on such Indian Ocean islands as Madagascar and the Comoros, there were several species of giant turtles regarded as particularly valuable by Western sailors because they could live in a ship's hold for weeks on end. In the tropics a boat could thus could sail for long stretches without coming to port and still have fresh meat. By the end of the 19th century, most species of giant Indian Ocean turtles were near extinction. Today marine turtles and turtle eggs are an important source of protein for many peoples in Central and South America.

Apart from shells, Asians also consume the blood, meat and even the urine of chelonians. The Warring States Era's Classic of Mountains and Seas records that people ate turtles and tortoises. A Han dynasty stone carving of kitchen life shows a turtle on the stove. And Detached Accounts, by the Han dynasty scholar Liu Xiang, describes a turtle meat soup that is claimed to be extremely nourishing. Today seaside restaurants in southeast mainland China all offer turtle dishes on their menus: soy-braised turtle, clear turtle soup, turtle and mutton soup--a colorful assortment of dishes. And sometimes dinners are even known to feast on protected elongated tortoises.

Although soft-shelled turtles were once popular with Taiwanese gourmands, the meat of other turtles has never been eaten much in Taiwan. Now only a few fishermen in such places as Hengchun in Pingtung County eat the turtles driven into their nets by the Dragon King (the Chinese Poseidon). But the fad for raising turtles as pets has indeed come to Taiwan, which has become a lively link in the pet trade. A few years back it was popular to raise red-eared turtles here. Today star turtles, map turtles and other protected species can commonly be seen in public aquariums. The beautiful East Asian box turtle that is often seen in home aquariums can go for as much as NT$3-4,000. According to the results of the TRAFFIC survey, consumers in Taiwan can order over the phone more than 200 species of turtles from dealers who sell to people stocking their home aquariums.

Using Board of Trade and customs records, it is possible to figure out how many turtle and tortoise shells were imported if you have the import shipment numbers. But living turtles, imported to be sold as pets or released in Buddhist ceremonies, are brought in big tanks that they often share with numerous species of tropical fish. There's simply no way to determine domestic consumption.

The disappearing Reeve's turtle

Unlike eating turtle meat and keeping turtles as pets, using the shells can be regarded as simply making use of something that would otherwise go to waste. TRAFFIC's report on Southeast Asia notes that turtles are eaten throughout the region with the exception of Islamic countries. Hence, with proper regulations the shells could be taken from what the turtle meat industry discards. Doing so shouldn't be controversial. Unfortunately, there isn't much known about current channels for importing and exporting turtle shells, and there still isn't any good way of integrating the turtle meat and turtle shell markets. Yet as the economies of Asian countries boom, the trade in chelonian shells is growing more commercial and international, and pressure on turtle and tortoise populations is intensifying.

Today, besides the booming market for guiling paste, restaurants are also buying chelonian shell as a healthy ingredient to use in cooking. The traditional medicine industry has even come up with instant turtle shell packs, which you can take home and throw into boiling water, eliminating all the preparation and stewing.

Traditionally Chinese have not liked to use divine beasts, of which the turtle is one, as sources of medicine. In Qianjin Yaofang, the Han dynasty doctor Zhang Chong-jing said, "Killing one life to provide for another is far from the spirit of life." And in the books on Chinese medicine through history, the turtle shells regarded as most effective were the ones of turtles that died of natural causes. Liao Swun-fu of the Huang Chang-sheng Herbal Pharmacy explains that only they were believed to have absorbed enough life energy. It was a concept that served to protect life. "But now that the amount being used is so great, how can you find enough shells of turtles that died of natural causes?"

Many herbal medicine dealers say that shells of Reeve's turtle from Mainland China are best. "Now you rarely see Reeve's turtles because they're being overculled," says Lin Cheng-wu, who owns the Seng Yuang herbal pharmacy. When there was sufficient supply, their shells became common ingredient in traditional herbal prescriptions, but now mainland China has developed a voracious appetite for these turtles, and the numbers that can be taken in the wild are growing ever smaller. For the shells of many turtle species there is a shortage of supply, even in their place of origin. Now shells from mainland China fetch more than NT$1000 a pound, ten times the price of shells from Indonesia.

Although attempts to breed and raise turtles in captivity have been made both in Taiwan and the mainland, not every species of turtle can adapt to these artificial environments. Chang Hsien-cheh suggests that the herbal medicine industry use the red-eared turtle, which has been artificially bred most successfully. Yet since this turtle comes from South America, traditional herbalists aren't used to working with its shell, and its medical effects are awaiting further clinical study. It's having a hard time getting accepted.

There is also a market for the shells of soft-shelled turtles, which are likewise used to make medicines. But these turtles are bred and raised in captivity in many countries where they are eaten, and there is no need to catch them in the wild. The TRAFFIC survey pointed out, "Without a doubt, trade in hard-shelled turtles far exceeds that of soft-shelled turtles."

A matter for zoologists?

With demand for turtles and their products growing worldwide, there isn't enough time to wait for humanity as a whole to get clear about chelonian ecologies and adopt protection measures and reasonable-use policies. TRAFFIC's preliminary study points out that in light of the recent rise in demand, 23 species of turtles and tortoises in Vietnam are endangered.

Recently, aggressive measures have been taken in regard to the international use of turtle shells. European countries such as Holland have adopted strict standards, asking companies to provide proof of species. Otherwise, products containing chelonian shell are immediately confiscated. In March of this year ROC representatives in Switzerland received a letter from the Secretariat of CITES, requesting a worldwide ban on the import of two species from Tanzania: the leopard tortoise and Malacochersus tornieri. The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources has also asked that many tortoises be added to the protected list.

Chang Hsien-che points out that even Thailand, a developing country less able to meet the demands of environmental organizations, has banned the export of several turtle species that are not yet protected internationally. Prosperous Taiwan, a frequent first-round target for the attacks of international environmental organizations, should be expected to do more.

"Western attacks on animal-based traditional medicines and the excessive reaction taken by Holland will not solve the problem," says Chang Hsien-cheh, who spends more than NT$1000 a year buying "turtle-deer double immortal gelatin" to keep his father's bones and tendons in good shape. "Not unless they also prohibit people from eating turtle meat." But today firms dealing in traditional Chinese medicines must adjust the actual ingredients of their medicines in response to international events. In the past these firms didn't show much concern for the species or the place of origin, and they lacked proof for any claims they might make. "They have typically believed that a deeper understanding was a matter for zoologists," Chang says.

The turtle trade is fundamentally different from the rhino horn and tiger bone trade, where the animals face total extinction. Many dealers of traditional Chinese medicines have not even sensed that there is a problem, and they insist that turtle shell is not a product made from endangered species.

Chen Tien-hsi, who is working toward a doctorate in zoology at Taiwan Normal University and is an expert on fresh water turtles, says that though the proportion of shells from protected species being consumed in Taiwan is small, for species with small populations, even light culling can do great damage, and so government and industry together must come up with measures that prevent the import of protected species.

Protecting the unprotected

Chang Hsien-cheh hopes that dealers will provide shells so that he can collect information on the appearance and special characteristics of each species of turtle and then provide printed color illustrations showing the protected species to the importers. This could change public perceptions of these traders, who could then demand that their suppliers not ship these protected species. Only then would customs be able to filter imports of turtle shells. The Council of Agriculture has also funded China Medical College to carry out DNA analysis on every kind of turtle, with the hope that turtles whose species could not be determined by an examination of their appearance could be identified through DNA testing. Hence various different measures can be taken to prevent imports of protected species.

The Taipei office of TRAFFIC also points out that "the survey by no means called for a ban on the use of turtle shell, but rather held out hope that there could be better measures of control." Lu Dao-jye, who carried out the survey on the current situation of Taiwanese consumption of turtles, says that just as CITES didn't originally intend to call for a ban on the use of rhino horns and tiger bones by consuming countries, it now hopes that governments can develop clear control policies, inform industry, and deploy manpower to forcefully carry out these measures, putting pressure on those who break the law and leaving legal vendors room to operate.

Lu Kuang-yang, a professor of zoology at Taiwan Normal, may well reflect the views of many conservationists. He has said that he would not object to non-threatened species being used to a limited degree in Chinese medicine if a complete system were instituted guaranteeing that protected species were not being used. A detailed survey of animal products used in traditional medicines in Taiwan should be carried out so that the source of each is determined, and then the Chinese medicine industry could administer the process itself, with the Board of Trade handling all imports and issuing stamps certifying the legality of all components.

Nevertheless, for those turtle populations that people haven't got a clear understanding of yet, Chen and many others fear that non-protected species may still be overused. "Simply estimating the number of turtles in the world, and calculating total reasonable use, is meaningless." By way of example, he explains that since there is a sizable population of Mydas japonica, they aren't a protected species. But if the group of them that returns every year to lay their eggs on the beach at Wangan in Penghu is wiped out,. Penghu still will have lost one of its native species.

In mainland China and Southeast Asia, the turtle industry puts the stress on low cost and convenience, and consequently turtles are often overculled at certain locations, causing populations to disappear overnight. Everyone's focus has been on protected species, "but this doesn't mean that unprotected species don't face their own survival crises," says Chen, who notes that many of the of turtle shells imported to Taiwan are taken from immature turtles--meaning that turtles are being killed before they have the chance to propagate. "Many of the Damonia subtrijuga shells are of young turtles."

The history of pollution in turtle shells

There's no guarantee that solving the problems of protected turtles and tortoises now will prevent future shortages of chelonian shells. But as Chen, a student of ecology, explains, there is an even greater crisis that the traditional Chinese medicine industry is going to face regarding the use of turtle shells.

Because chelonians aren't picky about their living conditions, with the exception of a few species such as the Indian star tortoise which has strict temperature requirements and often dies a year or two after being brought into captivity, most species of turtles resemble mutant ninja turtles and adapt quite well to sewers, which are designed to carry away urban pollutants. Turtles are tough. Along the stretch of the Keelung river near Chungshan North Road and the Grand Hotel, one of the most polluted stretches of river in Taipei, the great number of native green-headed turtles that can be seen make even a zoologist like Lu marvel.

Yet large quantities of pesticides and herbicides can accumulate in their fat and shells. Chen says that turtle shells are now among the best of ecological measures, with environmental scientists analyzing them to make records about heavy metal pollution. Just as chelonian shells hold the oldest traces of written language in China, now they hold a history of human pollution. In this light, how much longer will people have an appetite for guiling paste?

Apart from use of their shells in medicine, there are a number of reason s why turtle and tortoise populations are in a state of crisis. Taiwan's native Clemmys mutica is on the decline as its wetland habitat is destroyed. （photo by Chen Tien-hsi）

There is a tradition of killing and eating chelonians both in China and elsewhere, and many people still regard turtle eggs as a great delicacy. （photo by Chen Tien-hsi）

In 1988 at Tachia's Chenlan Kung Temple, sea turtles were released at a Buddhist mercy ceremony. Because all seven species of sea turtles are no w listed as protected animals, the scene won't be repeated. （photo by Cheng Yuan- chin）

Practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine often recommend taking the gelatin from turtle shells as a remedy for problems with the muscles and tendons. The tremendous volume of the turtle shell trade has become a focus of international attention.

Lucky to have escaped man's bulldozers, turtles in the wild now serve as one of the best measures of pollutant accumulations. What does the future hold for chelonian populations?

Chen Tien-hsi, a doctoral student in the department of zoology at Taiwan Normal University, believes that the survival prospects for unprotected species need further study. The photo shows Chen on the banks of the Keelung River doing research on the green-headed turtle, a species native to Taiwan.