{"id":865,"date":"2014-08-27T19:40:43","date_gmt":"2014-08-27T23:40:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/illuzone.net\/illu\/?p=865"},"modified":"2019-05-18T22:44:08","modified_gmt":"2019-05-19T02:44:08","slug":"article-asian-bear-bile-remedies-traditional-medicine-or-barbarism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/article-asian-bear-bile-remedies-traditional-medicine-or-barbarism\/","title":{"rendered":"ARTICLE (graphic) &#038; VIDEO | Asian bear bile remedies: traditional medicine or barbarism?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left; padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\">[dropcap]I[\/dropcap]magine living 20 years spending 24 hours a day in a cage that tightly fits your body, not giving you room to stand up, stretch out, turn around, or move at all.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left; padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Imagine that twice a day during these years you would have a metal catheter inserted into a hole which has been cut into your abdomen, allowing the catheter to easily puncture your gall bladder, or maybe a long syringe inserted into your gall bladder, piercing through your skin again and again, by people who are not doctors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left; padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Imagine becoming infected and cancerous because of this twice-daily physical invasion, and becoming neurotic due to your claustrophobic imprisonment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left; padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Imagine having one or both of your hands cut off so someone can sell them for a lot of money.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left; padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Imagine you begin to chew at your hands, if you are lucky enough to have one or both left, due to your developing neuroticism, and to distract yourself from the pain you experience twice a day, every day, for your entire life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left; padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\">This is reality for an estimated minimum of 12,000 bears across Asia.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"><em>\u2013 Sara Pegarella, JD<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Currently, animal activists across China are up in arms because Gui Zhen Tang Pharmaceutical Corporation, a Fujian-based company that sells bear bile for use in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), has tried to increase production through an initial public offering (IPO). The company is being accused of cruelty towards animals in the process of extracting their bile at an industrial scale. Bear bile, or Xiong Dan (\u718a\u80c6), is an important ingredient in TCM.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=j8zgCASRtw0<\/p>\n<p>The issue is not new: since the early 2000s, animal activists have circulated hundreds of shocking articles, images, and videos that recount unimaginable cruelty towards caged bears in Asia. The practice has even outraged celebrities, such as\u00a0<a title=\"Jackie Chan\" href=\"http:\/\/www.endbearfarming.org\/en\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jackie Chan<\/a>, who have pleaded with consumers to stop buying products made from bears and other endangered species. But now it\u2019s all over the news. Gui Zhen Tang\u2019s IPO has met with fierce public opposition, and has once again led environmentalists to appeal against the cruelty of live bear bile extraction.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/r9snODccgIc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>As this documentary shows, bear bile is sold throughout Asia for a variety of conditions. The<em>Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica (<\/em>1986) by Dan Bensky, Andrew Gamble, and Ted Kaptchuk lists bear bile as a remedy for trauma, sprains, fractures, hemorrhoids, conjunctivitis, severe hepatitis, high fever, convulsions, and delirium. The\u00a0<em>Materia Medica<\/em>also states that \u201cbecause of the high price of bear bile (<em>Xiong Dan<\/em>), often cow bile, Fei Bovus (<em>Niu Dan<\/em>), is substituted at a higher dose.\u201d<a href=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/illu\/2014\/08\/27\/article-asian-bear-bile-remedies-traditional-medicine-or-barbarism\/#note1\" name=\"ref1\">1<\/a>\u00a0There is no mention, however, of the horrific means by which the animal bile is obtained. The guide also lists other animal products (rhinoceros horn, tiger bones, deer musk, and bat and squirrel feces [sic]) used as medicine.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_867\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-867\" style=\"width: 1037px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/illu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5460508670_605da330cf.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-867 \" src=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/illu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5460508670_605da330cf.jpg\" alt=\"5460508670_605da330cf\" width=\"1037\" height=\"622\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5460508670_605da330cf.jpg 400w, https:\/\/illuzone.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5460508670_605da330cf-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/illuzone.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5460508670_605da330cf-250x150.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1037px) 100vw, 1037px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-867\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image 1. The bear bile entry in the 1986 version of Materia Medica by Bensky et al. The entry in the latest edition (3rd ed. 2004) has been moved to \u201cObsolete Substances.\u201d Image used with the explicit permission of Eastland Press.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The globalization of TCM has lead to a dramatic increase in the demand for bear bile along with other traditional remedies. Bear bile is sold in Asian apothecaries throughout the world in the form of powder, solution or pills. It is likewise the key ingredient in many Asian \u201cpatent medicines\u201d used for tapeworm, childhood nutritional impairment, hangovers, colds, and even cancer. Bear bile is even found in Chinese throat lozenges, shampoo, wine, and tea.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_889\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-889\" style=\"width: 1126px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/illu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/BearBilePowderForm.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-889 \" src=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/illu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/BearBilePowderForm.jpg\" alt=\"BearBilePowderForm\" width=\"1126\" height=\"960\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/BearBilePowderForm.jpg 500w, https:\/\/illuzone.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/BearBilePowderForm-300x255.jpg 300w, https:\/\/illuzone.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/BearBilePowderForm-250x213.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1126px) 100vw, 1126px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-889\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image 2. Raw bear bile in both liquid and powder forms. Photo: Kathleen E. McLaughlin, the Chronicle Foreign Service correspondent in Beijing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Overall, the worldwide trade in bear parts, including bile, is estimated to be a $2 billion industry. Research in August 2007 by the animal rights group\u00a0<a title=\"Animal Asia\" href=\"http:\/\/www.animalsasia.org\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Animals Asia<\/a>\u00a0shows its staggering profitability: while the wholesale price of bile powder is around US$410 per kg in China, the retail price increases exponentially to 25 to 50 fold in South Korea, and to 80 fold in Japan (US$33,000 per kg)!<\/p>\n<p>While the trade in bear products is prohibited under the\u00a0<a title=\"CITES\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cites.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)<\/a>, and the importation and trade of bear bile products to North America is illegal under both US and Canadian law, many products are still openly offered for sale in Chinese stores. Back in 2001, when the\u00a0<a title=\"WSPA\" href=\"http:\/\/www.wspa-international.org\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">World Society for the Protection of Animals<\/a>\u00a0conducted a probe of Asian shops in Canada and four US cities \u2014 Chicago, New York, Washington, and San Francisco \u2014 it found that 91% of the shops surveyed sold some form of bear part, including farmed bile powder, bile medicines, and whole gallbladders, which the merchants claimed originated from wild bears in China. When<a title=\"WildAid\" href=\"http:\/\/www.wildaid.org\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WildAid<\/a>, an animal rights group based in San Francisco, sent an undercover investigator into Chinatown in 2004, two shopkeepers readily produced vials in velvet-lined boxes with pictures of a bears on the lid.<\/p>\n<p>Bear bile is obtained through surgically implanting a tube in the animal, in a process called \u201cmilking,\u201d that produces an average 15 ml (.5 oz) of bile each time. The\u00a0<a title=\"The Humane Society\" href=\"http:\/\/www.humanesociety.org\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Humane Society of the United States<\/a>\u00a0reports that the process of milking is so painful for the bears that they moan and often chew their paws during the procedure. In order to make access to the animals easier, the farmers often break the bears\u2019 teeth and pull out their claws, sometimes brutally removing whole digits. If the bears stop producing bile, they are left to die, or are killed for their gallbladder and paws (considered a delicacy in China).<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/D7SC5ksEJKw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>According to Jeanette McDermott, the founder of\u00a0<a title=\"URSA\" href=\"http:\/\/ursafreedomproject.ning.com\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ursa Freedom Project<\/a>, bear farming in Asia increased during the 1980s in response to the dwindling supply of bear parts obtained from bears hunted in the wild. Tragically, the situation grew out of control, and by the early 1990s, there were over 400 bear farms in operation, containing more that 10,000 bears. Plans were in place to increase the number of bears in farms to 40,000 by the year 2000.<\/p>\n<p>Today, China produces 7,000 kilos of bear bile annually, much of which is illegally exported to Japan, Korea, Australia, Canada, and the US. Whole bear gallbladders are also exported: the Humane Society of the United States says smugglers have been caught with gallbladders packed in coffee to conceal their smell, or dipped in chocolate to disguise them as chocolate-covered figs.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the bears used in bile farming are Himalayan black bears (<em>Ursus thibetanus<\/em>), also known as \u201cAsiatic black bears\u201d or \u201cMoon bears,\u201d due to the cream-colored crescent moon shape on their chests. As their population has decreased by almost 40 percent over the past few decades, they have been listed (since 2000) as among the most critically endangered species on the International Union on Conservation of Nature\u2019s\u00a0<a title=\"IUCN Red List\" href=\"http:\/\/www.iucnredlist.org\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Red List of Threatened Species<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A number of the bears in bile farms are captured illegally in the wild as cubs. Poachers either wait to capture new-born cubs until the mother leaves the den in search of food , or sometimes they simply kill her to get to the babies. Some of the cubs are born in captivity \u2014 but in either case, bear cubs rarely survive to adulthood \u2014 and those who do often grow into the bars of their cages as their bodies mature.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_891\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-891\" style=\"width: 1014px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/illu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5458807911_8289e62559.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-891 \" src=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/illu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5458807911_8289e62559.jpg\" alt=\"5458807911_8289e62559\" width=\"1014\" height=\"649\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5458807911_8289e62559.jpg 500w, https:\/\/illuzone.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5458807911_8289e62559-300x192.jpg 300w, https:\/\/illuzone.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5458807911_8289e62559-250x160.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1014px) 100vw, 1014px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-891\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image 3. Is this traditional medicine or savagery and barbarism? Photo: Cornelius Maarselar\/Animals Asia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Animal activists posing as potential clients report that the caged bears moan, writhe in pain, and clutch their stomachs as the bile drains from their bodies. Sometimes the bears try to pull out the catheters. Those that succeed are immobilized in an iron corset. Under-nourished and highly stressed from horrific pain and unnatural confinement, the bears lie in agony, in their own filth.<\/p>\n<p>According to Jeanette McDermott, bile is not the farmers\u2019 only source of profit from the bears. Some farmers amputate one or two paws from live bears to sell to restaurants. When bears are no longer able to secrete bile, they are left to die from sickness or starvation. Bears might endure this torture for up to 25 years, making their lifetime a reality of suffering and pain in the name of \u201cnatural\u201d and \u201ctraditional\u201d medicine.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_892\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-892\" style=\"width: 1185px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/illu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5469627542_7b435cc3c6.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-892 \" src=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/illu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5469627542_7b435cc3c6.jpg\" alt=\"5469627542_7b435cc3c6\" width=\"1185\" height=\"872\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5469627542_7b435cc3c6.jpg 500w, https:\/\/illuzone.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5469627542_7b435cc3c6-300x220.jpg 300w, https:\/\/illuzone.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5469627542_7b435cc3c6-250x184.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1185px) 100vw, 1185px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-892\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image 4. This metal clamp is placed around bears who might struggle or move around excessively in order to ensure they remain still through the painful bile extraction. Photo: Animals Asia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>There are a number of extremely painful techniques used for milking bear bile. Image 4, above, illustrates the common extraction technique that relies on plastic or metal catheters, and often necessitates a metal jacket in order to restrain the bears (the\u00a0<a title=\"Bile Extraction Methods\" href=\"http:\/\/www.animalsasia.org\/index.php?UID=FFFUD5EP49V5\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">chilling details<\/a>\u00a0can be found at the Animals Asia website). Some farms rely on an ultrasound machine to guide a catheter connected to a medicinal pump. In this method, the bears are sedated \u2014 usually with ketamine \u2014 restrained with ropes, and have their abdomens jabbed repeatedly with four-inch needles until the gallbladder is located. Animals Asia suspects that this process leads to dangerous leakages of bile into the body, and to a slow and agonizing death from peritonitis.<\/p>\n<p>In recent years, China has introduced a new, \u201chumane,\u201d free-dripping extraction method, which does away with the need for catheters. Free-dripping involves carving a permanent hole, or fistula, into the bear\u2019s abdomen and gall bladder, from which bile drips out freely. The damage caused by the bile\u2019s leaking back into the abdomen, together with infection from the permanently open puncture, is even worse than the catheters method, and results in a high mortality rate. Often, the bears\u2019 livers and gallbladders become severely diseased through this process, and the collected bile is contaminated with pus, blood, urine and feces.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_893\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-893\" style=\"width: 1134px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/illu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5456794587_2f9b11b736.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-893 \" src=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/illu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5456794587_2f9b11b736.jpg\" alt=\"5456794587_2f9b11b736\" width=\"1134\" height=\"848\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5456794587_2f9b11b736.jpg 500w, https:\/\/illuzone.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5456794587_2f9b11b736-300x224.jpg 300w, https:\/\/illuzone.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5456794587_2f9b11b736-250x187.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1134px) 100vw, 1134px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-893\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image 5. Sometimes a hollow steel stick is pushed through the bear\u2019s abdomen, and the bile runs into a basin under the cage. In this case, about half of the bears die from infections or other complications. Photo: Animals Asia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_894\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-894\" style=\"width: 1124px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/illu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5457401882_0754c037f3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-894 \" src=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/illu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5457401882_0754c037f3.jpg\" alt=\"5457401882_0754c037f3\" width=\"1124\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5457401882_0754c037f3.jpg 500w, https:\/\/illuzone.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5457401882_0754c037f3-300x213.jpg 300w, https:\/\/illuzone.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5457401882_0754c037f3-250x178.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1124px) 100vw, 1124px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-894\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image 6. Ultrasound bile extraction from a bear in Vietnam. Photo: Asia Wild Life<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A healthy bear\u2019s bile is as fluid as water, and ranges in color from bright yellow-orange to green. However, Animals Asia\u2019s vets have described bile leaking from the gallbladders of farmed bears as \u201cblack sludge.\u201d Eminent Chinese and Vietnamese pathologists have warned the public not to use bile taken from sick bears.<\/p>\n<p>The active substance in bile (of bear and all other mammals) is ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), also known as Ursodiol, which is easily synthesized, and has been available for several decades. It is estimated that 100,000 kilos of synthetic UDCA are already being used each year in China, Japan, and South Korea, and that the total world consumption may double this figure.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the availability and affordability of synthetic UDCA and suitable herbal alternatives, some practitioners obstinately continue to prescribe bear bile, which in turn drives up the market demand, and pressures the Chinese government to continue to allow the practice of bear farming.<\/p>\n<p>The world\u2019s appetite for bear bile and other parts has also led to the hunting and killing of wild bears in the North America. The media reports that the poaching of bear gallbladder for its use in TCM is on the rise in the US. The\u00a0<a title=\"LA Times - August 22, 2010\" href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/news\/local\/la-me-bear22-2008aug22,0,1578435.story\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Los Angles Times, of August 22, 2008<\/a>, writes that Fish and Game Wardens in California (CA) often report finding dead black bear carcasses that have been skinned and dismembered. The gallbladder is by far the most often stolen part (see the<a title=\"Poaching of bear gallbladders used in traditional medicine increases\" href=\"http:\/\/latimesblogs.latimes.com\/unleashed\/2010\/11\/bear-gall-bladder-uses.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u00a0<\/a><a title=\"Poaching of bear gallbladders used in traditional medicine increases\" href=\"http:\/\/latimesblogs.latimes.com\/unleashed\/2010\/11\/bear-gall-bladder-uses.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Los Angeles Times of November 29, 2010<\/a>). The CA animal safety group,\u00a0<a title=\"BEAR League\" href=\"http:\/\/www.savebears.org\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">BEAR League<\/a>, reports that since the beginning of 2007, as many as 87 dead bears have been found near state roadsides. On occasion, they report the bears\u2019 heads or paws are cut off, but they also report finding bear carcasses with the gallbladder missing.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_895\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-895\" style=\"width: 1070px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/illu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5459414556_f33233b450.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-895 \" src=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/illu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5459414556_f33233b450.jpg\" alt=\"5459414556_f33233b450\" width=\"1070\" height=\"689\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5459414556_f33233b450.jpg 500w, https:\/\/illuzone.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5459414556_f33233b450-300x193.jpg 300w, https:\/\/illuzone.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/5459414556_f33233b450-250x161.jpg 250w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1070px) 100vw, 1070px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-895\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image 7. This California black bear was struck and killed on State Highway 89 near Lake Tahoe in August 2008. State wildlife officials say the gallbladder was removed. Photo: BEAR League<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The appalling impact of TCM on endangered species goes well beyond bears though. It affects the world\u2019s most precious and protected animals, such as Bengal tigers, American bears and African rhinos. A worldwide interest in alternative medicine and the ease of international commerce now put dozens of species worldwide at risk. And while most of traditional Chinese medicines rely on herbs, the demand for products made at the expense of threatened animals continues to grow. In reality, many of the current claims associated with the medicinal value of animal products are spurious; but reality hasn\u2019t stopped the rising demand for these illegal substances, and the profits to be made by poachers and smugglers rise.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/illu\/2014\/08\/27\/article-asian-bear-bile-remedies-traditional-medicine-or-barbarism\/#note2\" name=\"ref2\">2<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">While the use of some animal products was perhaps justifiable in the past\u00a0 \u2014 when there were no alternatives available, the extent of demand was limited, and the particular species were plentiful in their natural habitat \u2014 it is no longer sustainable, or justifiable, given our modern, globalized, and technically-advanced world. Today, with other approved therapeutic alternatives available, there is little justification for the use of endangered species such as the black bear.<a href=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/illu\/2014\/08\/27\/article-asian-bear-bile-remedies-traditional-medicine-or-barbarism\/#note3\" name=\"ref3\">3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The belief advanced by the Counterculture of the 1960s and the New Age movement \u2014 that \u201cnatural\u201d curatives are better than their synthetic equivalents \u2014 contributes enormously to TCM\u2019s popularity in North America today. These groups originally objected to the growing over-consumption and over-reliance on synthetically-produced medicines, over natural alternatives. And while these concerns should be considered serious, the apologists of TCM and other types of traditional medicines fail to recognize that at present, their massive demand for \u201cnatural\u201d products has made crime against animals commonplace. TCM has behind it a powerful, moneyed group of consumers whose \u201cneeds\u201d now drive a whole black market economy \u2014 one that supports poachers, bear bile farmers, and all types of heinous torture.<\/p>\n<p>As I wrote his article, I was overwhelmed with rage, and repulsed not only by the horrific images of the animal holocaust in Asia, but also by the enormous hypocrisy of the proponents of TCM, who effectively claim that pus-infested bear bile, and the by-products of animals tortured, disfigured, and dismembered in the name of the<em>\u201c<\/em>natural\u201d are better, safer, and \u201cgentler\u201d than synthetic pharmaceuticals.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>With many thanks to Sara Pegarella, JD, and Kristin Koster, PhD, for their valuable comments.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>The above mentioned animal rights advocacy groups (Animals Asia, Asia Wild Life, etc.) were not interviewed for this piece and any information attributable to them was taken from their websites. I encourage you to visit these sites to become more informed and involved.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #1e828a;\">REFERENCES<\/span><\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><a id=\"note1\" name=\"note1\"><\/a>Bensky D, Gamble A, Kaptchuck T.\u00a0<em>Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica<\/em>. Revised Edition. Eastland Press. 1986.<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/illu\/2014\/08\/27\/article-asian-bear-bile-remedies-traditional-medicine-or-barbarism\/#ref1\">\u00a0Return to text<\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><a id=\"note2\" name=\"note2\"><\/a>Ellis R.\u00a0<em>Tiger Bone &amp; Rhino Horn: The Destruction of Wildlife for Traditional Chinese Medicine<\/em>. Island Press; 1 edition. 2005.\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/illu\/2014\/08\/27\/article-asian-bear-bile-remedies-traditional-medicine-or-barbarism\/#ref2\">Return to text<\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><a id=\"note3\" name=\"note3\"><\/a>Still J. Use of animal products in traditional Chinese medicine: environmental impact and health hazards.\u00a0<em>Complement Ther Med<\/em>. 2003 Jun;11(2):118-22.<\/span>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/illu\/2014\/08\/27\/article-asian-bear-bile-remedies-traditional-medicine-or-barbarism\/#ref3\">Return to text<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Article copyright owned by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sciencebasedmedicine.org\/author\/ben-kavoussi\/\">Ben Kavoussi\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sciencebasedmedicine.org\/asian-bear-bile-remedies-barbarism-or-medicine\/\">Article source<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>_______________________<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #008080;\">Update 08 August 2014<\/span><\/h3>\n<p align=\"left\">Animals Asia has welcomed news that China\u2019s largest bear bile pharmaceutical company is now pursuing research on synthetic alternatives.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">KaiBao Pharmaceutical is a cornerstone of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.animalsasia.org\/\/uk\/our-work\/end-bear-bile-farming\/what-is-bear-bile-farming\/overview.html\">bear bile industry<\/a>. In 2012 it bought 18 tonnes of bear bile powder for use in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and continues to be the major outlet for industrial bear bile farms.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">The company\u2019s project \u201cKey Technology and Clinical Research of Developing Bear Bile Powder in Vitro\u201d has gained support from the State Ministry of Science and Technology in its five-year plan entitled: \u201cKey Technology and Clinical Research of Developing Bear Bile Powder\u201d.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">KaiBao states:<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">\u201cThe project aims to develop a synthetic bear bile bioequivalent in terms of chemical composition by using poultry bile and biotransformation technology and gaining the independent intellectual property rights. The project will benefit the protection and sustainable using of endangered medicinal animal resources and provide raw materials with stable and controllable quality for developing new drugs and bear bile powder products. These are of great significance for the history and development of traditional Chinese medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">This groundbreaking research will be significant in demonstrating alternative thinking within the traditional Chinese medicine industry and its use of wild animal body parts as medicinal raw materials.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">The advent and promotion of synthetic alternatives will benefit both animals and the Chinese medicine industry and ease public concern regarding the ethical use of threatened species within Chinese pharmacopoeia.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Animals Asia founder Jill Robinson said:<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">\u201cWe welcome this decision and are in support of such measures that will replace bear bile with a synthetic alternative. Such a step forward is good news for the pharmaceuticals, for those who practice TCM, and for customers too. We applaud the official backing of this research and believe it is good news for the bears and the millions of people who have campaigned for their freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Animals Asia has a sanctuary in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.animalsasia.org\/\/uk\/our-work\/end-bear-bile-farming\/what-we-do\/bear-sanctuaries\/china-bear-sanctuary\/china-bear-sanctuary.html\">Chengdu, China<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.animalsasia.org\/\/uk\/our-work\/end-bear-bile-farming\/what-we-do\/bear-sanctuaries\/vietnam-bear-sanctuary\/vietnam-bear-sanctuary.html\">Tam Dao, Vietnam<\/a>. It also recently announced the conversion to a sanctuary of a bear bile farm in Nanning housing 130 bears. Dubbed the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/peacebypiece.animalsasia.org\/home\">Peace by Piece rescue<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 the aim was to show that as demand for bear bile decreases \u2013 the farmers and their bears can be part of a solution based strategy to end bear bile farming once and for all.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\">Including the Nanning project, Animals Asia has rescued over 500 bears, mainly moon bears, from the bear bile industry.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><strong>NOTE:\u00a0<\/strong>We note that\u00a0synthetic\u00a0bear bile is also still an animal product \u2013 albeit a byproduct of a wider industry. It remains an ethical dilemma and the debate surrounding the use of all animal products continues and remains entirely worthwhile. \u00a0From the point of view of ending bear bile farming, and drastically reducing suffering of animals caged and mutilated for anything up to 30 years of their lives, this is a huge step. In the meantime, the battle to improve the lives of all animals, including those suffering under intensive farming conditions, goes on.<\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.animalsasia.org\/intl\/media\/news\/news-archive\/synthetic-bile-plan-could-end-demand-for-bear-bile.html\">Article source.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"fb-background-color\">\n\t\t\t  <div \n\t\t\t  \tclass = \"fb-comments\" \n\t\t\t  \tdata-href = \"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/article-asian-bear-bile-remedies-traditional-medicine-or-barbarism\/\"\n\t\t\t  \tdata-numposts = \"10\"\n\t\t\t  \tdata-lazy = \"true\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-colorscheme = \"light\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-order-by = \"social\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-mobile=true>\n\t\t\t  <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t  <style>\n\t\t    .fb-background-color {\n\t\t\t\tbackground:  !important;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t.fb_iframe_widget_fluid_desktop iframe {\n\t\t\t    width: 100% !important;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t  <\/style>\n\t\t  ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[dropcap]I[\/dropcap]magine living 20 years spending 24 hours a day in a cage that tightly fits your body, not giving you room to stand up, stretch out, turn around, or move at all. Imagine that twice a day during these years you would have a metal catheter inserted into a hole which has been cut into [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":896,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,76,81],"tags":[37,126,123,124,128,129,127,125],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>ARTICLE (graphic) &amp; VIDEO | Asian bear bile remedies: traditional medicine or barbarism? - Illuzone<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/illuzone.net\/article-asian-bear-bile-remedies-traditional-medicine-or-barbarism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ARTICLE (graphic) &amp; VIDEO | Asian bear bile remedies: traditional medicine or barbarism? - Illuzone\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[dropcap]I[\/dropcap]magine living 20 years spending 24 hours a day in a cage that tightly fits your body, not giving you room to stand up, stretch out, turn around, or move at all. 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