In comments submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) requested that FWS recommend the removal of artificial-shade grown American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) from that species’ listing on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

AHPA’s comments were in response to a request for information issued by FWS as the first of three notices that will provide opportunities for public input in advance of CITES’ 19th Conference of the Parties (CoP19), tentatively scheduled to convene in March 2022.

The Ginseng Board of Wisconsin (GBW) also submitted comments to FWS to make the same recommendation and request. In its comments, GBW identified numerous examples of plant species listed in CITES Appendix II in which cultivated populations of those species are completely exempted from CITES’ provisions, with or without certain specific conditions.

AHPA’s comments also proposed a fallback request that FWS recommend that the Appendix II annotation for American ginseng be revised to exclude sliced roots of the plant. AHPA noted in support of this alternative suggestion that only cultivated ginseng is prepared by slicing the roots, such that there would be no chance of confusing artificially propagated roots with wild-harvested American ginseng.

Please contact AHPA President Michael McGuffin or AHPA Director of Program Development Jane Wilson with any questions regarding these AHPA comments or CITES generally.