ABSTRACT
Invasive Plant Research Laboratory, Agricultural Research Seroice, United States Department of Agriculture, 3205 College Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33314, USA.
E-mail: bobpem@saa.ars.usda.gov
Abstract Insects and other arthropods have appeared in pharmacopeias of traditional Korean medicine but little is known about their use in modem South Korea. Interviews were conducted with 20 traditional medicine doctors at clinics in South Korea's Kyeong Dong Shijang in Seoul (one of the world's largest tradi tional drug markets) in 1993 to learn about the current patterns of usage. Seven teen products were prescribed and the use of arthropodal medicines either stable or increasing. Centipedes (Scolopendra spp.), used primarily to treat arthritis, and the silk moth fungus (Beauveria bassiana which infects silk moth larvae) used mostly to treat stroke, were the two most frequently prescribed and medically important arthropod drugs. Most of the arthropod drugs were traditionally col lected or reared on the Korean Peninsula but are now imported, mainly from China. Folk logic appears to be the basis for some arthropod drugs use (i.e., centipedes, which have many legs, were used for leg problems). But many of the arthropods used have venoms and other defensive chemicals that are bio logically and probably pharmaceutically active. The Korean use of arthropods as drugs (as well as for food and enjoyment) is due, in part, to more positive attitude towards these animals compared to many cultures. Use of traditional Korean medicine has expanded dramatically in the last 30 years and spread with Korean immigrants to the United States and other countries where Koreans
have settled, such as Australia. Arthropod-based medicine is consumed by Ko reans living overseas, a use facilitated by internet marketing, primarily by Chi nese mainland companies. Terrestrial arthropods appear to be an unexplored and unexploited source of drugs for modern medicine.
