THE UK TIMES REPORT ON CHINESE BEAR BILE FARMING

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The Times January 13, 2006

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25689-1982459,00.html

Siphoning bear bile for medicine is painless, says China

From Jane Macartney in Beijing

 

 

 

IT IS a scene replicated in scores of Chinese farms: hundreds of Asian

black bears crowded into rows of cages with hardly enough space in

which to roll over. Each animal has a hole punched through its abdomen

and into its gall bladder. From that hole drips the bile that is sent

off for use in traditional Chinese medicines.

Most of the bears — known as moon bears for the crescent of yellowish

fur across their chests — were trapped in the wild and are destined to

spend dramatically shortened lives in captivity. They die of illness,

starvation, tumours or infections of their open wounds.

 

 

 

On the initiative of five British MEPs, Labour and Conservative, the

European Parliament this week demanded an immediate ban on this " cruel

and uncivilised practice " .

 

But China rejected that demand yesterday. It argued that without a

viable substitute, the bile remained an essential ingredient in

traditional Chinese medicine and that a campaign launched last year

had ended many of the inhumane practices cited by environmentalists.

 

Wang Wei, deputy director-general of the Department of Wildlife

Conservation, said: " We have introduced painless practices for

extracting bear bile. Until we can find a good substitute we cannot

accept the EU resolution that urges the elimination of bear farming. "

 

Mr Wang said China had closed most of its 480 bear farms and now keeps

about 7,000 animals in 68 farms that meet new standards.

 

The Government encouraged bear farming in the 1990s to stop the

endangered animals being hunted — fewer than 19,000 survive in the

wild. The process is profitable, with bile fetching up to £350 a

kilogram. China is believed to produce as much as 7,000kg (15,430lb) a

year.

 

Traditional Chinese doctors use the bitter, green bile to treat eye,

liver and other ailments. Yang Liang, of the Association of

Traditional , said: " It's definitely painful for the

bears, but the synthetic substitute is too different from natural

bile.

 

" Traditional Chinese medicine attaches importance to every material as

a whole and not just one ingredient. Laboratory-made bile is just bile

acid, but real bear bile has many amino acids and trace elements. "

 

Jill Robinson, the British founder of the Hong Kong-based Animals Asia

Foundation, which runs a sanctuary in southwest Sichuan province,

disagreed. " It's nonsense. Bear bile can easily and cheaply be

replaced by herbal or synthetic materials. "

 

She urged Beijing to investigate hidden malpractices on the farms,

which range from family businesses with a couple of bears to

" superfarms " in the northeast with as many as 2,000 animals.

 

Not all practitioners of Chinese medicine consider bear bile

essential. Liu Zhengcai, a professor who has worked as a doctor for

more than 40 years and never used the ingredient, said bile first

appeared as a folk remedy in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and was said

to be effective in treating eye diseases.

 

" Traditionally, people believe bear bile can relieve internal heat or

fever, " he said. " Actually it functions as an anti-inflammatory and

many other Chinese medicines — such as chrysanthemums — or Western

medicines are more effective. Bear bile is not a magic cure. "

 

It could even do harm. Ms Robinson said that her sanctuary had

received 198 bears and every one had to have its damaged gallbladder

removed. " In 100 per cent of cases, we have found pus in the bile, "

she said. " We wonder, what is that pus doing to the end consumer? So,

far from healing people, it could be harming them. "