The information provided on this website is intended as guidance for practitioners and patients looking for substitutes to remedies containing wild animal parts.
The database contains plant or mineral-based preparations described in widely recognized materia medica or in the current pharmacopeia of the People’s Republic of China. The substitutes provided here are based on an assessment of similarities in function and the characteristics of the medicinal substances of wild animal-based remedies.
The actual choice of the appropriate substitute for a particular wild animal product remains dependent on the prescribing practices of the specific practitioner, the style of practice or the Chinese medical tradition.
In rare occasions this database lists products produced by mollusks, such as shells. Where this is the case this is clearly marked and highlighted as exception from the otherwise entirely plant or mineral-based listings.
Please use the search function or the dropdown list to view plant-based alternatives to each wild animal ingredient.
The information contained within this database is provided by Professor Steve Given, former Academic Associate Dean at the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine at the California Institute of Integral Studies. The database has been reviewed by Professor Lao President of Virginia University of Integrative Medicine and Vice President of World Federation of Acupuncture-Moxibustion Societies and by Professor Fang Zhijun from Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine.