By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-09-22 05:29:08 | Updated at 2024-09-30 07:35:46
1 week ago
Demand for ox gallstones in Hong Kong has risen significantly following the Covid-19 pandemic, with a US trade report showing the rare medicinal ingredient’s import value has increased nearly three times to HK$1.7 billion (US$218 million) over the past five years.
The surge in demand came under the spotlight after two siblings in Uruguay were sentenced this week for trafficking more than US$3 million worth of bovine gallstones to Hong Kong.
The report from the US Department of Agriculture’s agricultural trade office for Hong Kong noted sales of a pill that used the ingredient had grown and prompted a strong demand for ox gallstones.
Chan Man-hon, general secretary of the Hong Kong’s Union of Frontline Chinese Medicine Practitioners, said ox gallstones, or niu huang in Mandarin, were typically the main ingredient in “Peaceful Palace Bovine Bezoar” pills.
The pills were used to treat symptoms such as high fever, unconsciousness, convulsion and brain inflammation, or for certain types of stroke that traditional Chinese medicine practitioners consider to carry “too much energy”, he explained.
