Outcry in China over bear bile farming

Animal lovers up in arms over firm's public listing plans
Ho Ai Li Straits Times 22 Feb 12;

BEIJING: A Fujian firm that extracts bile from caged bears to make medicine is facing fierce protests over its plans for a public listing, in a spat that is pitting Chinese animal rights groups against trade bodies for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

The firm, Gui Zhen Tang, plans to use funds raised from its market listing to expand its production of bile products, which are used to treat liver ailments.

But animal rights activists said the farming of bears for their bile is cruel and are trying to stop the firm's listing.

'If it lists, the scale of its operations will go up and more bears will be tortured,' said Professor Jiang Jingsong, a well-known advocate of animal protection from Tsinghua University.

At Gui Zhen Tang, bile is drawn by making a permanent hole in a bear's abdomen and gall bladder. The liquid is collected using a syringe in a process said to be over in seconds. This is an improvement from previous methods, such as inserting metal tubes into bears permanently, said the firm.

Bears have to be more than three years old and at least 100kg before they can be 'milked'.

But critics said this method still harms the bears. Not only are they kept in small cages, but having a permanent hole in their abdomens also leaves them vulnerable to infections, said Animals Asia Foundation, a Hong Kong-based group active in calling for an end to bear farming.

This is not the first time that the firm has met resistance in its bid to list. Last year, it was bombarded with protests and could not go public.

In recent years, there has been growing criticism of bear farms in China, with celebrities such as retired basketball star Yao Ming lending their names to campaigns against cruelty to bears.

The Chinese forestry authorities said there were 68 licensed farms with more than 10,000 bears in 2006, the latest figures available.

In its defence, Gui Zhen Tang said what the farms are doing is legal and not cruel.

The China Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine has accused critics of being part of a conspiracy funded by Western pharmaceutical firms hoping to push Chinese rivals aside.

At stake is an industry worth over 10 billion yuan (S$2 billion) that employs tens of thousands of workers, it added.

The association is targeting Animals Asia in particular, which it accuses of having close links with the West.

The group's aim is to 'force our country to clamp down on the bear farms so as to limit the amount of bear bile in medicine and blunt the competitiveness of TCM against Western medicine', said the association in a statement.

But while it is true that TCM offers stiff competition for Western medicine, consumers do care about how their medicine is produced.

'Besides their efficacy and quality, whether the processing of these Chinese medicine is in line with people's morals and ethics also affects whether these will find acceptance worldwide,' Nanyang Technological University lecturer Zhao Yan told The Straits Times.

The association's chairman, Mr Fang Shuting, insists that the bile extraction methods have not crossed the line.

'Getting the bile is as simple and painless as turning on a tap. When it's done, the bears can happily go out to play. I don't think it's anything strange, it's even comfortable,' he said last Thursday.

His comments were galling to many. 'You are not a bear, how do you know how it feels?' was a common sentiment on microblogs.

The trade body's assertion that bear bile is irreplaceable is also in doubt.

The bile is used to reduce 'heatiness' and eliminate toxins or clear the liver, among other things, but many other types of Chinese medicine have the same effects and more doctors are choosing to prescribe those instead, said Dr Zhao.

Bear bile is not commonly prescribed, said doctors. 'I have never prescribed it even though I have been a doctor for 50 years,' Beijing-based TCM physician Lu Zhaolin told The Straits Times.

In fact, scientists in China have come up with a man-made substance to replace bear bile but this has not been approved by the health authorities.

Ultimately, objections to the business are not about pitting TCM against Western medicine, said Prof Jiang, noting that animal testing is criticised in the West.

'Animal protection is a challenge for both Western and Chinese medicine.'

China company opens bear bile farm to media
Sebastien Blanc AFP Yahoo News 23 Feb 12;

A traditional Chinese medicine company at the heart of an angry Internet campaign accusing it of cruelty to animals opened one of its controversial bear bile farms to journalists on Wednesday.

Bear bile has long been used in China to treat various health problems, despite scepticism over its effectiveness and outrage over the bile extraction process, which animal rights group say is excruciatingly painful for bears.

The Guizhentang pharmaceutical company in the southeastern province of Fujian last year announced plans to raise millions of dollars through a stock exchange listing in order to increase production of the bile.

But the announcement sparked a noisy Internet campaign against the listing that brought into question the medical effectiveness of the bile and the cruel manner in which it is extracted from living bears.

According to a Guizhentang spokeswoman surnamed Wang, Chinese journalists began visiting one of the company's bear farms on Wednesday as part of attempts to address the controversy.

She said they were promised full "transparency" to inspect the premise, but the state-run Beijing News reported that journalists would not be allowed to ask questions during the visit.

"Guizhentang made public a list of journalists without prior consultations. They could be putting on a show," the paper quoted Zhang Xingsheng of the Nature Conservancy's North Asia office as saying.

The company refused to allow AFP journalists to take part in the tour, saying the event was not open to foreign reporters.

The anti-bile campaign got a boost this week after China's retired basketball superstar Yao Ming visited a sanctuary for Asiatic black bears, or moon bears, rescued from bile farms by the Animal Asia group.

"The moon bears are beautiful animals that nature has given us," the Sichuan Daily quoted Yao as saying as he toured the sanctuary. "We should all be concerned for the moon bears."

Yao has also campaigned to end the killing of sharks, harvested for their fins -- a traditional Chinese delicacy.

"It just gave me immense satisfaction that people in China are taking up this challenge of wanting bear farming to end," Jill Robinson, CEO and founder of Animals Asia told AFP.

"We have seen an unprecedented outcry from the Chinese public and media over the last few days."

Photos posted on popular web portal 163.com by reporters allowed into the farm showed a large enclosure where dozens of bears roamed around, some climbing on metallic structures, in what was called a "breeding centre".

Other photos show the black bears in small, narrow cages, and employees wearing surgical masks, hats and gloves, sticking draining tubes in the animals' gall bladders and a yellow liquid flowing into a glass.

Animals Asia, which since 1988 has been campaigning against the practice, on Tuesday published a report and video exposing what it said was the "brutal truth" behind bile extractions, in anticipation of the visit.

It said that around 7,000 bears still languish in bile farms across China, but many more could be used in illegal establishments.

Bear bile is used in China and other Asian countries to treat fevers, liver disease, eye problems and other health problems, but activists have for years tried to stop the practice, citing it as a form of torture for the bears.

Guizhentang farmed 470 bears last year, and had decided to list to increase the number to 1,200 in order to step up annual production of bile to 4,000 tonnes.