School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, King Edward Avenue, Pietermaritzburg 3209, South Africa; School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, 90 South St., Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia.
Chengdu Tiandi Net Information Technology Ltd., 7, no.1, Chengfei Road, Chengdu 610041, China.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2019 Jan 30;229:205-214. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2018.10.010. Epub 2018 Oct 17.
Worldwide, one of the drivers of substitution and adulteration is the cost of the natural resources (plants, animals, fungi) that are ingredients of traditional medicines. Relatively few studies have been done that link prices of traditional medicine ingredients to what drives changes in price, yet this is an important topic. Theoretically, prices have been widely considered as an economic indicator of resource scarcity. Rare, slow growing medicinal plants sell for high prices and common, less popular species for low prices. Price levels also influence the viability of farming vs. wild harvest (and incentives to overharvest high value species when tenure is weak). Prices can also influence the harvesting or buying behaviour of harvesters, traders or manufacturers. When prices are high, then there is a greater incentive to use cheaper substitute species or adulterants. As previous studies on herbal medicine ingredients have shown, adulteration applies in a wide variety of cases, including to some Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) species.
The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of which factors influenced changes in the market prices of document prices for four popular, but very different traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) species (2002 - 2017).
Fluctuations in market prices were followed over a 15-year period (2002-2017) for four very different TCM ingredients: two plant species (one wild harvested for fruits (Schisandra sphenanthera Rehder & E.H. Wilson) the other in a transition from wild harvest to cultivation (Paris polyphylla Smith), an animal species (the Tokay gecko (Gekko gecko L.)) and the entomophagous "caterpillar fungus" (Ophiocordyceps sinensis (Berk). G.H. Sung, J.M. Sung, Hywel-Jones & Spatafora).
High prices of medicinal plants are widely considered to reflect resource scarcity. Real-time market prices for three of the four very different TCM species we studied all showed major price fluctuations. The exception was P. polyphylla, whose wild populations are widely known to be increasingly scarce, where there was a steady increase in price, with few fluctuations in the upward price trend. The three other species showed significant price fluctuations. These were driven by multiple factors. Ecological and biogeographic factors that influence abundance or scarcity of supply certainly played a role. But other factors were also influential. These included both national and global economic factors (the influence of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC)), national policy changes that in turn influenced businessmen giving expensive gifts (that included O. sinensis)), climate change (influencing fruiting success of S. sphenanthera), price speculation by traders and lack of information (e.g: reduction in G. gecko prices due to traders incorrectly believing that domestication would increase supplies).
Price fluctuations in the four TCM species we examined are influenced by many factors and not just resource scarcity. And the situation is more complex than the trajectory based on Homma's (1992) model, where he predicted that higher prices would result in a shift to cultivation, thus replacing wild harvest. In case of both O. sinensis and P. polyphylla, Homma (1992, 1996) was right in terms of scarcity and high prices stimulating a major investment in cultivation (P. polyphylla) and artificial production (O. sinensis). But in both cases, intensive production through cultivation or artificial propagation do not yet occur on a large enough scale to reduce harvest of wild stocks. Substitution and adulteration occur with all four species. Improving information to medicinal plant traders on the supply status of TCM stocks, whether from wild harvest or from cultivation could benefit product quality, cultivation initiatives and conservation efforts.
在全球范围内，导致替代和掺假的原因之一是传统药物成分的自然资源（植物、动物、真菌）的成本。尽管已经进行了相对较少的研究将传统药物成分的价格与导致价格变化的因素联系起来，但这是一个重要的话题。从理论上讲，价格被广泛认为是资源稀缺性的经济指标。稀有、生长缓慢的药用植物价格高，常见、不太受欢迎的物种价格低。价格水平也会影响种植与野生收获的可行性（以及在保有权薄弱时过度收获高价值物种的激励）。价格也会影响采集者、贸易商或制造商的采集或购买行为。当价格较高时，使用更便宜的替代物种或掺杂物的动机就会更大。正如之前对草药成分的研究表明，掺假适用于各种情况，包括一些中药（TCM）物种。
本研究的目的是更好地了解哪些因素影响了四种流行的但非常不同的中药（TCM）物种（2002-2017 年）的市场价格变化。
在 15 年的时间里（2002-2017 年），对四种非常不同的 TCM 成分的市场价格波动进行了跟踪：两种植物物种（一种是野生水果采集的五味子（Schisandra sphenanthera Rehder & E.H. Wilson），另一种是从野生采集向种植过渡的重楼（Paris polyphylla Smith）），一种动物物种（金钱龟（Gekko gecko L.））和食虫“毛毛虫菌”（冬虫夏草（Ophiocordyceps sinensis（Berk）。G.H. Sung、J.M. Sung、Hywel-Jones 和 Spatafora）。
药用植物价格高被广泛认为反映了资源稀缺。我们研究的四种非常不同的 TCM 物种中的三种实时市场价格都显示出了主要的价格波动。例外是 P. polyphylla，其野生种群的数量越来越少，这是一个稳步增加的价格，向上的价格趋势几乎没有波动。其他三种物种显示出明显的价格波动。这些波动是由多种因素驱动的。影响供应丰度或稀缺性的生态和生物地理因素肯定起到了一定的作用。但其他因素也有影响。这些因素包括国家和全球经济因素（全球金融危机（GFC）的影响）、国家政策变化，这些变化反过来又影响商人送礼（包括 O. sinensis）、气候变化（影响 S. sphenanthera 的结实成功率）、贸易商的价格投机和信息缺乏（例如，由于贸易商错误地认为驯化会增加供应，G. gecko 的价格下降）。
我们研究的四种 TCM 物种的价格波动受到许多因素的影响，而不仅仅是资源稀缺。情况比 Homma（1992 年）提出的基于 Homma 的模型更为复杂，他预测更高的价格将导致向种植的转变，从而取代野生收获。在 O. sinensis 和 P. polyphylla 的情况下，Homma（1992 年，1996 年）在稀缺性和高价刺激对野生种群的主要投资方面是正确的，通过种植（P. polyphylla）和人工生产（O. sinensis）来替代野生收获。但在这两种情况下，通过种植或人工繁殖进行的密集生产规模还不够大，无法减少野生种群的收获。所有四种物种都存在替代和掺假现象。向药用植物贸易商提供 TCM 库存的供应状况信息，无论是来自野生收获还是来自种植，都可以有益于产品质量、种植计划和保护工作。
