(CN) Herbal products better than bear bile at killing cancer cells

[Guest guest]

5th Pong Ding Yuen International Traditional Symposium

delivers positive results

http://www.animalsasia.org/index.php?UID=NTYH6M8GRMR

 

Assistant Professor Feng Yibin presents his preliminary research results.

 

Frank Pong (centre) briefs delegates on the horrors of bear farming and the

research.

 

Jill summarises Animals Asia's work to bring an end to bear farming in

China.

 

Participants at the symposium, which delivered positive findings on TCM.

Armed with a generous grant from the Pong Ding Yuen Endowment Fund for

Education and Research in Chinese-Western Medicine, which has been matched

by Hong Kong Government funding, Assistant Professor Feng Yibin and his

colleagues at the University of Hong Kong School of began

researching the effectiveness of various Chinese herbal alternatives for

ailments commonly treated using bear bile products, early in 2008.

Many people believe that bear bile cannot be replaced by herbal alternatives

because of a lack of supporting systematic, comparative research. The aim of

Professor Feng and his team is to conduct research to compare the

effectiveness of bear bile and herbal alternatives, using modern, rigorous

scientific procedures.

 

Although the studies are in their early stages, and are scheduled to

continue for at least the next four years, some preliminary findings were

presented by Professor Feng at the 5th Pong Ding Yueng International

Traditional Symposium, held on 13 December 2008 at the

University of Hong Kong School of .

 

Bear bile is used by practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine as a

" cold " medicine to treat a variety of conditions, such as removing heat from

the liver, relieving convulsions and spasms, visual disorders, reducing heat

or fever, and clearing toxic chemicals. In Western medicine, ursodeoxycholic

acid (UDCA), a bile acid found in high concentrations in bear bile, is known

to modify cholesterol absorption and excretion, and is used in the treatment

of gall stones, biliary cirrhosis, and liver cancers. UDCA for Western

medicinal use is produced semi-synthetically from precursors derived from

the bile of cattle slaughtered for the beef industry. Bear bile used by some

traditional Chinese medicine practitioners is largely derived from bile

farms, in which live bears held in horrific conditions are " milked " for

their bile.

 

Professor Feng described studies comparing extracts from two species of the

herb " coptis " , against raw bear bile and purified active ingredients from

bear bile. The tests showed coptis to be far more effective than bear bile

at killing cancer cell lines.

 

These initial results are very exciting. Further tests are planned to

compare coptis and its extracts with bear bile, for their effectiveness

against a variety of liver conditions.

 

Following his presentation at the symposium, Professor Feng held a press

conference alongside Frank Pong from the Pong Ding Yuen Endowment Fund for

Education and Research in Chinese-Western Medicine, and our founder Jill

Robinson. The press conference attracted journalists from a variety of Hong

Kong Chinese publications, including the Apple Daily, the Oriental Daily

News, the Sun, the Sing Tao Daily, Ta Kung Pao, Wen Wei Po, the Commercial

Daily, and the Metro Daily. Mr Pong introduced Professor Feng and Jill to

the press, and gave a summary of his interest in the work, in which he said:

 

" I am told that doctors in traditional Chinese medicine no longer depend on

bear bile for the treatment of illnesses related to the liver. There are

other forms of medication that are just as, or even more, effective than

bear bile powder.

 

What is more, the dried bile juice extracted from the bears kept in cages

often contains materials from the infected livers of the bears, as the tubes

that are inserted into the abdomens of the bears are left in place for as

long as the bears are used for the extraction (it is an open wound). The

more modern open-fistula method claimed to be more humane is just as

damaging. Nearly all of the bears kept this way die of liver cancer, and

while their livers develop the cancerous growth, their bile continues to be

extracted.

 

With modern and scientific understanding of the effects of the medicinal

properties of the contents of the bear bile, many studies have been done to

show that the bear bile can be replaced by more effective and hygienic

medications.

 

The research work, which started in early 2008 and is being carried out by

Dr Feng, aims to establish herbal alternatives to bear bile.

 

I hope Professor Feng's work will show good results and help to put an end

to the very cruel practice of bear bile farming. "

 

Jill Robinson gave a short presentation on the horrors of bear farming and

the work of Animals Asia, which includes investigations into the safety for

the consumer of bile products from diseased and mistreated bears. Professor

Feng described his research in more detail for the journalists.

 

The results of the research, and the press reports which follow, will

hopefully provide further arguments for the elimination of bear bile from

the traditional Chinese medicine pharmacopoeia, and consequently the relief

from torturous suffering endured by so many bears in China and beyond.