Bear bile, believed to cure fever, liver illnesses and sore
eyes, has been harvested in China for more than 1,000 years as an
important ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Because
of the continued demand for the product, some impoverished farmers
have resorted to raising bears for their bile.
But when illegal farms keep the animals in appalling conditions
and extract their bile using cruel and painful methods, the
government will clamp down on them, a forestry official said
Tuesday.
Cao Qingyao, spokesperson for the State Forestry Administration,
made it clear at a press conference in Beijing that the agency
stopped granting new licenses for bear farms established for bile
extraction in 1993.
"Since then, we have prohibited the capture of wild bears for
their bile, which is traditionally believed to have healing
powers," he said.
There are still more than 200 legal farms in China, holding
around 7,000 bears, according to official figures released in
1999.
The State Forestry Administration, along with four other
government departments, issued a joint circular in late December
2004 to outlaw the hunting of endangered wild bears and the cruel
treatment of bears on farms, said Cao.
The circular also banned illegal trading in bear bile, he
added.
"From 2003, China stopped exporting bear bile products;
it did not approve any new bile extracting facilities and
prohibited the hunting of wild bears," Cao said.
"There are still a few illegal bear farms around despite
attempts by the authorities to stem the practice," he added.
Today, many TCM practitioners say that bear bile can be easily
substituted with herbs, as well as a synthetic form of the bile,
ursodeoxycholic acid.
Licensed and regulated bear farms were set up across China from
1984. Each bear can be kept, if properly cared for, for about five
years. The bile "milked" during that period is equivalent to
powdered bile obtained by killing 220 wild bears, Cao said.
(China Daily, Xinhua News Agency June 15, 2005)