Officials from the Los Angeles-based Consulate General of communist China this weekend reportedly began distributing health kits that contain Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to Chinese students at colleges and universities in California and other U.S. states in an alleged bid to stem the spread of the Chinese coronavirus.

TCM treatments rely on herbs and other natural ingredients. Scientists have questioned the effectiveness of some traditional Chinese treatments and consider TCM that relies on the poaching of some endangered animals bad for the environment.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, China, the birthplace of the deadly and highly contagious disease, has been peddling its multi-billion-dollar TCM industry.

Beijing expects to hand out the health kits to Chinese students at 41 universities and colleges in the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Hawaii, the state-owned Global Times reported, adding:

The Consulate General of China in Los Angeles started to send out health kits, including face masks and disinfection supplies, to Chinese students living in Southern California and other states this weekend. There is also traditional Chinese medicine in the health kit, such as Lianhua-Qingwen [Formula known as LQF], which has been proved effective in lessening symptoms by Chinese frontline medical experts in the battle against COVID-19 epidemic in Wuhan.

TCM reportedly generates billions of dollars in profits for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The TCM industry is also fueling an environmental disaster by relying on the poaching of endangered species for “false and useless” ingredients, Forbes acknowledged in August 2014, adding:

To the millions of people who practice Traditional Chinese Medicine, rhinoceros horn is a medical necessity, they believe it works and are willing to fund the poachers as effectively as any drug cartel. The dwindling number of rhinos only increases the price and ensures their extinction.

Given the limited flow of information out of China, independent researchers are often unable to corroborate the scientific integrity of the communist party’s claims of the effectiveness of some TCM treatments.

A study published in 2016 by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that some, not all, of the LQF components “have antivirus efficacy.”

“The LQF is commonly used for the prevention and treatment of viral influenza in China,” the study noted. “It is composed of 11 herbs, gypsum, and menthol.”

Coronavirus patients experience symptoms that are similar to the seasonal flu.

U.S. officials have accused China of hiding the extent of the coronavirus within its borders, a move that allowed the deadly visual outbreak to gain a foothold across most of the globe.