(CN) Dream come true for Healing without Harm

[Guest guest]

Monday, December 28, 2009, 07:49 PM

http://www.animalsasia.org/blog/index.php?entry=entry091228-194920

 

Over 250 members of the TCM community in China and across the world joined

together in Beijing in the last weekend of November for the " International

Symposium for the Conservation of Endangered Species and Traditional Chinese

Medicine " . The symposium was sponsored by the American College of

Traditional (ACTCM) and Animals Asia Foundation, together

with the generous help of the Maria Norbury Foundation and Hauser Bears.

 

The idea for collaboration had originally been discussed between Lixin

Huang, President of the ACTCM, and our own US Director, Alice Ng - and it

was a dream come true to see this surge of support for the bears by such

respected people in the TCM community. Lixin herself made the feelings of

her College very clear when he talked together at the Asia Society in San

Francisco a few weeks ago. She said:

 

" Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) promotes harmony and healing. Using bear

bile and endangered species in TCM does not support harmony or healing. Many

products containing bear bile are not prescribed or recommended by TCM

doctors. We ask bear farmers not to use the excuse of traditional medicine

as a reason for farming bears, because we do not need bear bile to save

patient lives. "

 

The gathering saw herbal vendors, practitioners, scholars, government

officials and policy-makers from the fields of TCM and environmental

conservation. Eighteen leaders from across China were selected by ACTCM to

address conservation policy, alternatives to the use of endangered species,

as well as specific medicinal species such as bears, pangolin and turtles.

 

As I said to Lixin when the conference began, I've waited nearly 25 years

for this moment - to see experts coming together with the common message

that animals should not end their lives to save ours. It was a true

celebration of the harmony between animal welfare and Chinese medicine. At

this point of course we are focusing on endangered species, but the debate

has begun to include all animals and this is the mission of Animals Asia to

reach that goal.

 

We sponsored three experts in their field to attend this conference, experts

with whom we have been working to address the use of, and alternatives to,

bear bile, the appalling cancers found in farmed bears, and the ongoing

research to find substitutes that are superior to the " real thing " . All of

these experts support the call that bear farming should end.

 

Professor Liu Zheng Cai, a traditional Chinese medicine doctor with whom

we've been working for many years, was first. With his mix of serious

discussion and, occasionally, a wry sense of humour, he had the audience

captivated - especially at one point when he pointedly asked: " The bears

have cancer themselves, so how can they possibly cure it?! "

 

Chengdu pathologist Dr Wang Sheng Xian was next, showing the pathology of

the liver cancers and compromised gall bladders of bears we have loved and

lost. The slides flashed up on the screen showing the tumours found on each

bear - every one a number for Dr Wang's presentation purposes - but every

one a friend to us. Hope, Chengdu Truth, Mango, Xiao Hei, Saskia, Kiki,

Willow, Fuzzy and, of course No. 1 - Andrew - showing wave after wave of

cancers that have invaded and ended the lives of our bears.

 

Dr Feng Yibin from the University of Hong Kong School of

discussed his exciting research with the herb, coptis - funded by Frank Pong

Fai and his family and with matching funds from the Hong Kong Government. In

his paper, " Research Project on Alternative Drugs or Substitutes for Bear

Bile " , Dr Feng demonstrated that his research was rapidly unveiling

something which was not just a substitute for bear bile - but better than

bear bile. He made clear that the usage of bear bile was a problem of

history, culture and economy and was rapidly becoming a political issue too.

 

 

Speaker after speaker followed, endorsing the message from our experts - one

professor even boldly claimed that there was no need to cling on to

traditional herbs if the synthetic preparations were proven to be equally

effective - " Why not introduce these into mainstream medicine too if they

can help to save the lives of endangered species? "

 

And it was all going so well until Professor Wang Liang Xin from the north

of China began his presentation and showed pictures of farmed animals,

including bears, while making the astonishing statement that it was fine to

consume wildlife, provided that they were farmed. This was perhaps not

surprising, given that we found out later that he was from Heilongjiang,

where a large number of bears are caged and victimised for the bear bile

industry.

 

I fumed and thought to myself, how is it that some people lost their

humanity to the point that they view farmed animals as " things " to be

exploited, and somehow different from their wild counterparts. It was too

harrowing to contemplate and I wondered if he had grandchildren who listened

to his views, and sadly reflected upon the next generation of his family

growing up to hate bears so much that they didn't care if they lay caged and

tortured until they died.

 

After his presentation, he passed me on the way out and I had to follow him

and ask him why. As we spoke, I saw a man with kind eyes who told me that

the bear farms in Heilongjiang produced their bile with no harm to the

animals concerned. He really believed it was true. Thank goodness for Toby

(our Director of External Affairs) who had joined us - he picked up the

reigns, and explained in rapid and measured Chinese about the methods of

farming and bile extraction, which are extremely painful and compromising to

the bears' health.

 

And with that, in a moment of time when everything changed, Professor Wang

admitted it must be true, nodding sadly with the realisation. He added

thoughtfully that he would like to think of ideas to introduce education

programmes to help people understand that they must not treat bears like

this. This was an issue of education not money - changing the mindset and

persuading farmers that they could not treat animals in this way.

 

And with that I felt a huge weight taken away - here was an intelligent,

respected professor with a lifelong belief that farming animals of any

species was fine, and now his mind was changing fast.

 

Lixin Huang then took the stage and asked all in the audience to sign an

open letter to bring a " healthier attitude " to TCM practitioners - which

broadly meant bringing exploitation to an end.

 

At the end of the first day, a student of TCM shyly approached us and held

up a slogan he had drawn after hearing the presentations on bear farming.

His simple sign, " Save the Bears " , said it all about the growing support

within the TCM community for bringing bear farming to an end.

 

And, before leaving the conference, Professor Wang Liang Xin approached Toby

again asking if he could email him and discuss more ideas to help the bears

- and I knew that the message of " healing without harm " will one day

prevail.

 

Here's a pic taken at the symposium of Dr Wang, Dave our Animal Welfare, myself, Professor Liu, Professor Feng Yibin and Rainbow Zhu Ke,

our China PR and Education Manager.

 

More at: http://www.animalsasia.org/index.php?UID=5ZY2V6Y8HB4

[Guest guest]

Just great Work Jill.

My good wishes with you team.

Merry X Mas to all @ Animals Asia

 

Regards,

Nilesh

PAWS

 

 

 

John Wedderburn [john]

Wednesday, December 30, 2009 9:05 AM

AAPN List

(CN) Dream come true for " Healing without Harm "

 

 

Monday, December 28, 2009, 07:49 PM

http://www.animalsasia.org/blog/index.php?entry=entry091228-194920

<http://www.animalsasia.org/blog/index.php?entry=entry091228-194920>

 

Over 250 members of the TCM community in China and across the world

joined

together in Beijing in the last weekend of November for the

" International

Symposium for the Conservation of Endangered Species and Traditional

Chinese

Medicine " . The symposium was sponsored by the American College of

Traditional (ACTCM) and Animals Asia Foundation,

together

with the generous help of the Maria Norbury Foundation and Hauser Bears.

 

The idea for collaboration had originally been discussed between Lixin

Huang, President of the ACTCM, and our own US Director, Alice Ng - and

it

was a dream come true to see this surge of support for the bears by such

respected people in the TCM community. Lixin herself made the feelings

of

her College very clear when he talked together at the Asia Society in

San

Francisco a few weeks ago. She said:

 

" Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) promotes harmony and healing. Using

bear

bile and endangered species in TCM does not support harmony or healing.

Many

products containing bear bile are not prescribed or recommended by TCM

doctors. We ask bear farmers not to use the excuse of traditional

medicine

as a reason for farming bears, because we do not need bear bile to save

patient lives. "

 

The gathering saw herbal vendors, practitioners, scholars, government

officials and policy-makers from the fields of TCM and environmental

conservation. Eighteen leaders from across China were selected by ACTCM

to

address conservation policy, alternatives to the use of endangered

species,

as well as specific medicinal species such as bears, pangolin and

turtles.

 

As I said to Lixin when the conference began, I've waited nearly 25

years

for this moment - to see experts coming together with the common message

that animals should not end their lives to save ours. It was a true

celebration of the harmony between animal welfare and Chinese medicine.

At

this point of course we are focusing on endangered species, but the

debate

has begun to include all animals and this is the mission of Animals Asia

to

reach that goal.

 

We sponsored three experts in their field to attend this conference,

experts

with whom we have been working to address the use of, and alternatives

to,

bear bile, the appalling cancers found in farmed bears, and the ongoing

research to find substitutes that are superior to the " real thing " . All

of

these experts support the call that bear farming should end.

 

Professor Liu Zheng Cai, a traditional Chinese medicine doctor with whom

we've been working for many years, was first. With his mix of serious

discussion and, occasionally, a wry sense of humour, he had the audience

captivated - especially at one point when he pointedly asked: " The bears

have cancer themselves, so how can they possibly cure it?! "

 

Chengdu pathologist Dr Wang Sheng Xian was next, showing the pathology

of

the liver cancers and compromised gall bladders of bears we have loved

and

lost. The slides flashed up on the screen showing the tumours found on

each

bear - every one a number for Dr Wang's presentation purposes - but

every

one a friend to us. Hope, Chengdu Truth, Mango, Xiao Hei, Saskia, Kiki,

Willow, Fuzzy and, of course No. 1 - Andrew - showing wave after wave of

cancers that have invaded and ended the lives of our bears.

 

Dr Feng Yibin from the University of Hong Kong School of Chinese

Medicine

discussed his exciting research with the herb, coptis - funded by Frank

Pong

Fai and his family and with matching funds from the Hong Kong

Government. In

his paper, " Research Project on Alternative Drugs or Substitutes for

Bear

Bile " , Dr Feng demonstrated that his research was rapidly unveiling

something which was not just a substitute for bear bile - but better

than

bear bile. He made clear that the usage of bear bile was a problem of

history, culture and economy and was rapidly becoming a political issue

too.

 

Speaker after speaker followed, endorsing the message from our experts -

one

professor even boldly claimed that there was no need to cling on to

traditional herbs if the synthetic preparations were proven to be

equally

effective - " Why not introduce these into mainstream medicine too if

they

can help to save the lives of endangered species? "

 

And it was all going so well until Professor Wang Liang Xin from the

north

of China began his presentation and showed pictures of farmed animals,

including bears, while making the astonishing statement that it was fine

to

consume wildlife, provided that they were farmed. This was perhaps not

surprising, given that we found out later that he was from Heilongjiang,

where a large number of bears are caged and victimised for the bear bile

industry.

 

I fumed and thought to myself, how is it that some people lost their

humanity to the point that they view farmed animals as " things " to be

exploited, and somehow different from their wild counterparts. It was

too

harrowing to contemplate and I wondered if he had grandchildren who

listened

to his views, and sadly reflected upon the next generation of his family

growing up to hate bears so much that they didn't care if they lay caged

and

tortured until they died.

 

After his presentation, he passed me on the way out and I had to follow

him

and ask him why. As we spoke, I saw a man with kind eyes who told me

that

the bear farms in Heilongjiang produced their bile with no harm to the

animals concerned. He really believed it was true. Thank goodness for

Toby

(our Director of External Affairs) who had joined us - he picked up the

reigns, and explained in rapid and measured Chinese about the methods of

farming and bile extraction, which are extremely painful and

compromising to

the bears' health.

 

And with that, in a moment of time when everything changed, Professor

Wang

admitted it must be true, nodding sadly with the realisation. He added

thoughtfully that he would like to think of ideas to introduce education

programmes to help people understand that they must not treat bears like

this. This was an issue of education not money - changing the mindset

and

persuading farmers that they could not treat animals in this way.

 

And with that I felt a huge weight taken away - here was an intelligent,

respected professor with a lifelong belief that farming animals of any

species was fine, and now his mind was changing fast.

 

Lixin Huang then took the stage and asked all in the audience to sign an

open letter to bring a " healthier attitude " to TCM practitioners - which

broadly meant bringing exploitation to an end.

 

At the end of the first day, a student of TCM shyly approached us and

held

up a slogan he had drawn after hearing the presentations on bear

farming.

His simple sign, " Save the Bears " , said it all about the growing support

within the TCM community for bringing bear farming to an end.

 

And, before leaving the conference, Professor Wang Liang Xin approached

Toby

again asking if he could email him and discuss more ideas to help the

bears

- and I knew that the message of " healing without harm " will one day

prevail.

 

Here's a pic taken at the symposium of Dr Wang, Dave our Animal Welfare, myself, Professor Liu, Professor Feng Yibin and Rainbow Zhu

Ke,

our China PR and Education Manager.

 

More at: http://www.animalsasia.org/index.php?UID=5ZY2V6Y8HB4

<http://www.animalsasia.org/index.php?UID=5ZY2V6Y8HB4>