David S. Lee & Liao Shi
David S. Lee & Liao Shi Kun slow metabolisms. People consuming the product often develop secondary sexual characteristics. Some six-yearold boys have been reported to grow breasts, and first menstruation in young girls occurs as early as age to 10, and puberty can begin at age 7. Antibiotics in turtle food and disinfectants absorbed through the turtles skin can have adverse effects on humans. A decade ago most of the turtles sold in Chinese markets were wild caught. Farmed ones took 5-7 years to reach 500 grams. Today, because of hormones farm produced hatchling soft-shells can obtain weights of 450 grams in just 7–8 months with the use of hormones, and even with improved diets turtles fed foods without hormones take 4–5 years to reach similar sizes (She 2005). In several provinces there are reports of turtle farmers covering the bottoms of rearing pools with thick layers of dung to which they have added antibiotics and human contraceptives. The antibiotics are for sterilization and preventing infectious diseases and the contraceptives, in the form of birth control pills, contain estrogen to promote the growth of the turtles. The farmers told reporters that they personally never eat these turtles because of the way they are raised. The reporters (Zhou 2007) writing of this noted that when the pools were drained to collect the turtles that many of the birth control pills were still present because so many were added that most had not yet dissolved. The pills are available at no cost to the farmers as they are distributed freely by government local “family planning offices.” Due to the high-density culture of farmed turtles, the animals are stressed and quickly succumb to all sorts of diseases. The problem is made worse by less than ideal water quality and food with low nutritional quality. This results in the over use of antibiotics to alleviate infections of various types. One common disease in soft-shells, locally referred to as ‘white-plastron disease’, results from too many hormones. These turtles lose liver function, and often have complete live failures. Farmed turtles have numerous ailments, many unnamed as they are not ones found in nature. Some of the drugs in use, such as nitrofuran and malachite green, are nationally prohibited. These drugs are highly toxic and contain heavy metals, and in cases of human ingestion cause organ damage and cancer. Use of prohibited drugs on turtle farms is common, and violations are frequently reported. In 2006 the Ministry of Agriculture found violations during random testing of all farms checked (Chen 2006). In 2010 a sample of 10 farms found 20% had illicit drug residues. With over 100,000 turtle farms in China it is not clear what actual percent of misuse these few spot checks represent (Wen 2010). Greenhouse turtle farming presents additional problems. Turtles grown in greenhouses reach market size faster than those grown in outdoor facilities, as the turtles do not need to hibernate and continue to feed and grow throughout the winter. In a closed greenhouse of only a few dozen square meters turtles reach market size in less than half the time of those grown outdoors. In just 1–2 years they are ready for market. Hard-shelled turtles are often raised in densities of 100–150/ square meter; soft-shell turtles are raised at densities of 30–50/square meter. 20 RADIATA 23 (2), 2014
Turtles in Traditional Chinese Medicine Species 1 year 2 years 3 years 4 years 5 years Mauremys reevesii Wild 15 gr. 50 gr. 100 gr. 200 gr. 250–300 gr.; 6 years: 400 gr. farm ponds 40 gr. 180 gr. (female) 100 gr. (male) 360 gr. (female) 140 gr (male) 680 gr. (female) 175 gr. (male) greenhouse 350–500 gr. (female) 150–250 gr. (male) Mauremys mutica wild 30 gr. 80 gr. 500 gr. Farm ponds 100 gr. 500 gr. 1,000 gr. greenhouse 500 gr. Trachemys scripta Farm ponds 200 gr. 400 gr. greenhouse Pelodiscus sinensis 500 gr. 1,000– 1,300 gr. wild 450 gr farm ponds greenhouse 150–200 gr. 1 year: 700 gr. 8–9 months: 200–300 gr. 3–4 year: 500–1,000 gr. Tab. 1. Growth rates of farm-raised turtles in China. Based on averaged weight data August/September through August/September of following year, and greenhouse maintained at 30–31 °C. RADIATA 23 (2), 2014 21
