(CNN) The Chinese government has removed pangolin scales from its 2020 list of approved ingredients used in traditional Chinese medicine, a move campaigners describe as a "critical step" towards saving the world's most trafficked mammal . Although pangolin scales are made of keratin -- the same material found in human fingernails and rhino horn -- traditional Chinese medicine promotes the belief that they improve blood circulation and reduce inflammation. Seized pangolin scales are seen in a sack at a holding area in Singapore in July 2019. As pangolins in Asia were hunted to their limits, a booming trade began in scales from pangolin species native to Africa. Between 2013 and 2019, two African species of pangolin, the white-bellied pangolin and the giant pangolin, have seen their populations move from vulnerable to endangered.

Source: CNN June 10, 2020 07:41 UTC