Seahorse population is threatened. ( April 5, 1997)
Seahorses have become more valuable than silver on the Hong Kong market according to Traffic, the investigative branch of World-Wide Fund for Nature. At $600 a pound they are worth going after with small dip nets. Most of the 20 million traded annually are caught off the Philippines, Thailand, India and Viet Nam.

Despite their appearance, seahorses are highly evolved creatures who mate for life and often fail to adopt a new partner upon the loss of a mate. The male has a special pouch in which he he carries the female's eggs until they hatch. Because of a lengthy incubation period and reluctance to adopt new mates, their reproduction can not keep up with the rate at which they are being caught.

Some wind up in the aquarium trade but more are probably dried and

sold as a novelty in souvenir shops. The greatest number, however, winds up in Chinese medicine where they are prescribed to treat incontinence, impotence and thyroid cancer. The best hope for their continued existence probably lies in synthesizing the active ingredient they supply as has been done with bear gall..

Bear gall synthesized ( April 5,1997)
According to a report in AWI Quarterly, Fall 1996 (POB 3650, Washington DC 20007), there are at least 54 alternative herbal remedies to bear gall. The critical ingredient, ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) has been synthesized and used in western medicine to treat gallstones and cirrhosis of the liver in quantities of c.150 tons a year.

Unfortunately, the real bile is still very much in demand. As a result five of the eight remaining species of bears are listed as "endangered" and two as "threatened". The worst aspect of this demand is the confinement of bears in tiny cages barely larger than their bodies.with permanent drains crudely installed in their gall bladders that are periodically tapped for the animal's bile. Anyone who has suffered a gallstone attack can testify that pain in this area can be excruciating.