ONE ASPECT OF THE ILLEGAL TRADE IN the products derived from endangered animals that you failed to cover in your story ((Environment, Nov. 14)) is that many of these products have genuine medicinal purposes. Because of this, half the task of saving these animals lies in understanding how these products are effective. China, for example, has recently successfully synthesized deer musk, an ingredient in fully 11% of that country's herbal pharmacology. This timely discovery, which will eliminate the need for the animal's musk gland, has probably gone as far to save endangered musk deer as an army of environmentalists. It is...
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