Conserving Musk Deer the Uses of Musk and Europe's Role in its Trade (pdf, 360 kb)

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Use of musk in traditional East Asian medicine

The effects of musk have been known in Oriental medicine for several thousand years (Pereira, 1857).

Today, musk is mainly used in traditional medicine in China, Korea, India and other East, South and

Southeast Asian countries.  It is used as a sedative and as a stimulant - of the heart, nerves, breathing and

sexual libido - to treat a variety of ailments (Chopra et al., 1982; Mukerji, 1953; Gaski and Johnson, 1994;

Kun-Ying Yen, 1992; Pharmacopoeia Commission of the Ministry of Public Health, 1996 and Zuh, 1989).

Some studies have shown that musk stimulates the heart and central nervous system.  It is also thought to

be effective against snake venom and as an anti-inflammatory agent (Gaski and Johnson, 1994).  Musk is

cited as an ingredient of 70 patent Oriental medicines in the USA (Gaski and Johnson, 1994), while it is

contained in about 300 pharmaceutical preparations in traditional Chinese and Korean medicine (Mills,

1998).  It is therefore one of the most frequently used animal products in these traditional forms of

medicine. The efficacy of musk is still intensively researched, as is the detection of genuine musk in

samples and the possibilities for using natural or synthetic substitutes for musk in TEAM.  There are

currently three natural substitutes for musk in use in TEAM (from the Muskrat and from two species of

civet Viverra zibetha and Viverricula indica (Mills, 1998)), in addition to synthetics.

The demand for musk for the production of pharmaceuticals is reported to amount to 500 -1000 kg per

year, in China alone.  This is equivalent to a total of about 100 000 musk deer killed annually (Mills, 1998).

With an estimated musk deer population of 600 000 in China, there is obvious concern about the survival

of musk deer in China.

In Japan, musk has been particularly important among animal and plant ingredients used to produce

children’s tonics, medicinal drinks and so-called anabolic drinks (to sustain stamina, for example in sports

participants) (Green and Taylor, 1986).  In 1985, the use of musk in anabolic drinks and children’s tonics

ceased under pressure from the government and medicinal use of musk has since then been government-

controlled.

SYNTHETIC MUSK

As stated already, the rarity and expense of natural musk have been major incentives to search for less

expensive substitutes, added to which is now the incentive to conserve musk deer (Pilz, 1997).  Today,

synthetic musk compounds are an integral part of many cosmetics, soaps, shampoos, detergents and

cleansing agents

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air fresheners and other products with an odour.  Like natural musk, they are used as

fragrances and fixatives for other fragrances.  Currently, about 1000 chemical compounds with the smell

of musk are known, but only some 30 are economically important (Rebmann et al., 1997).  The global

industrial demand for synthetic musk compounds is estimated at about 7000-8000 tonnes (t) per year and

the market value in 1987 amounted to around US$215 million (Rebmann et al., 1997).

The first synthetic musk compounds, the so-called nitromusk compounds, were developed around 1890

(Gebauer and Bouter, 1997).  This group of substances belongs to the benzene derivatives which are

Chinese medicine listing musk in its ingredients

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Musk and Tiger-bone plaster

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technically easy to manufacture.  The price for a kilogramme was recently around US$5-20 (Gebauer and

Bouter, 1997).  Nitromusk compounds do not biodegrade easily and are fat-soluble.  After tests, one of

these compounds, musk ambrette, was classified as mutagenic and its use banned by the EU in 1995

(Brunn and Rimkus, 1997).  Major national and international groups in the cosmetics industry have also

recommended a halt in the manufacture and use of another of the compounds in this group, musk xylol,

since it might be carcinogenic (Brunn and Rimkus, 1997).

In the 1950s, polycyclic musk compounds were developed (Gebauer and Bouter, 1997).  Like the

nitromusk compounds they are based on petrochemical base materials.  In 1996, polycyclic musk

compounds formed about 85% of the artificial musk compounds produced annually and thus constituted

by far the largest proportion (Rebmann et al., 1997).  The price for a kilogramme of polycyclic musk

compounds is about US$10-35 (Gebauer and Bouter, 1997).  Polycyclic musk compounds are inexpensive

and highly durable and so are used as perfume fixatives, for example in detergents.  They are also difficult

to degrade, and even more fat-soluble than nitromusk compounds, with similar associated risks, i.e. those

of absorption into the food chain (Eschke et al., 1995 and Rimkus and Brunn, 1996).  As for nitromusk

compounds, the safety of the intake of these readily fat-soluble substances via the human skin is under

discussion. 

A third group of  synthetic musk substitutes, macrocyclic musk compounds, were discovered  in 1926 (Pilz,

1997).  These macrocyclic molecules are very similar to those of natural musk.  They are clearly superior

to other artificial musk compounds, so that they are now used virtually exclusively in perfumes (Rebmann

et al., 1997).  However, the manufacture of these complex molecules remains expensive (Gebauer and

Bouter, 1997) and the price for a kilogramme of macrocyclic musk compounds is between US$30 and

US$3000 (Gebauer and Bouter, 1997).  In 1996, they represented only 3-4% of the worldwide production

of artificial musk.

In conclusion, artificial musk compounds constitute the main share of “musk” used in perfume and

cosmetics.  They are far less expensive than natural musk.  The suspected toxicity of nitromusk compounds

and polycyclic musk compounds has not, to date, been adequately documented and requires further inves-

tigation.

MUSK DEER FARMING AND MANAGEMENT OF MUSK DEER IN ZOOS

Musk deer farming

Musk deer are difficult to manage and breed on farms because of their solitary habits, territorial behaviour

and excitable nature (Green, 1989).  Experience in managing and breeding the animals and in extracting

musk from live animals has been gained in China, India and Russia.

Since 1958, efforts have been made to expand musk deer farming in China (Zhang, 1983).  Such farms are

located in the areas of Ma Er Kang, Miyalo and Manchuan in the province of Sichuan, in the Zhenping

area in Shaanxi province and near Foziling in Anhui province (IUCN, 1984 and Zhang, 1983).  According

to Green (1989), there are also musk deer farms in the provinces of Qinghai and Shanxi and in Quangxi

Autonomous Region, but Sichuan produces about half of the country’s musk from farmed deer.  In 1984,

there were 21 communal farms and four State farms in the province of Sichuan which, together, held about

1000 musk deer, while some 2000 animals in total were kept in farms in the entire country (Green, 1989). 

The economic viability of these farms has been insufficiently studied (Green, 1989).  Musk deer require a

high quality diet and the rations have to be rich in proteins and carbohydrates and low in fibre (Green,

1987b).  The difficulty and cost of maintaining the farms were probably high, and the quality of the musk

from farmed animals did not match that from wild musk deer, perhaps because the male deer on the farms

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