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<\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 SHANGHAI,\u00a0 China\u2013\u2013<\/strong>The good news for bears in China appears to be that the bad news reported recently by hunting writer Ted Williams via Animal Wellness Action is not quite as bad as it looks,\u00a0 based on scientific journal reports,\u00a0 even though it is quite as bad for the thousands of individual bears imprisoned in tight iron cases to be \u201cmilked\u201d for their bile.<\/p>\n First,\u00a0 though,\u00a0 before getting to the good news,\u00a0 must come a quick review of the bad news about a cruel industry that ANIMALS 24-7<\/strong> was among the first to expose to the world more than 30 years ago,\u00a0 after more than a decade of exposing bear poaching in the U.S. and Canada motivated by the high prices paid by traditional Chinese medicine merchants for bear gall bladders.<\/p>\n <\/a> Animals Asia Foundation founder Jill Robinson & Jasper the bear.\u00a0 \u00a0See Jasper\u2019s gift: the real-life care bear<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em> Bear bile farming,\u00a0 developed in North Korea in the late 1970s,\u00a0 eventually knocked the bottom out of the overseas poached bear gall bladder market,\u00a0 after spreading to China,\u00a0 Vietnam,\u00a0 Laos,\u00a0 and South Korea.<\/p>\n There remains,\u00a0 however,\u00a0 a considerable market for poached bear gall bladders for traditional Chinese medicinal use within the U.S. and Canada.<\/p>\n Under global humane pressure,\u00a0 rallied initially by the International Fund for Animal Welfare and since 2000 by the Animals Asia Foundation,\u00a0 operating sanctuaries for rescued former bile farm bears in both China and Vietnam,\u00a0 the bear bile industry for about 20 years contracted.<\/p>\n However,\u00a0 updated Animal Wellness Action and Center for A Humane Economy president Wayne Pacelle on February 5,\u00a0 2025,\u00a0 \u201cIn a knock-you-off-your-feet tremor of the COVID-19 crisis, some Chinese government officials declared that Tan Re Qing\u2014an offering in the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) pharmacopeia, with its main ingredient being bear bile\u2014can be used as a palliative for the symptoms of the virus.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n The declaration Pacelle mentioned was actually issued five years earlier,\u00a0 in March 2020,\u00a0 but the concern Pacelle expressed is real,\u00a0 and remains,\u00a0 especially if bear bile should similarly be advanced as a possible treatment for the H5N1 avian influenza in humans.<\/p>\n \u201cWith tens of millions of people infected just a couple of years ago, \u00a0what would become of hundreds of thousands of bears, \u00a0across all eight surviving bear species, \u00a0should demand for bile surge?\u201d Pacelle asked.<\/p>\n \u201cGetting bile from a bear is not like drawing milk from a cow,\u201d\u00a0 Pacelle continued.\u00a0 \u201cYou must grievously injure the bear, \u00a0or kill him or her.\u00a0 To extract the bile, \u00a0you kill a wild bear.\u00a0 Cut open the bear and pull out the gallbladder. And then extract the bile contained inside it.\u00a0 Or you imprison bears and stab them with a catheter and extract the bile from the bears without anesthesia.<\/p>\n \u201cBear bile farms are being phased out in South Korea and Vietnam,\u201d\u00a0 Pacelle acknowledged.<\/p>\n <\/a> Ted Williams with old buzzard.<\/strong><\/em> Pacelle then introduced Ted Williams\u2019 article Bear Gall Bile Market Threatens Earth\u2019s Eight Bear Species<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The claim that the bear gall bile market might threaten all bear species is somewhat inaccurate,\u00a0 inasmuch as giant pandas,\u00a0 who are primarily vegetarian,\u00a0 and exclusively native to China,\u00a0 do not produce ursodeoxycholic acid,\u00a0 the bear bile ingredient with purported medicinal qualities.<\/p>\n This,\u00a0 even more than conservation concerns,\u00a0 is probably why giant pandas were not exterminated by poaching long before they were legally protected,\u00a0 and is why,\u00a0 unlike Chinese moon bears,\u00a0 giant pandas have never been farmed for bile extraction.<\/p>\n \u201cBear bile can\u2019t cure anything,\u201d\u00a0 Willams wrote, \u00a0\u201cbut it eases discomfort of sundry liver disorders and, \u00a0at least according to a 2022 proclamation by the Chinese Ministry of Health [again,\u00a0 actually issued in 2020], \u00a0COVID 19. \u00a0While it has been seen to dissolve human gallstones, \u00a0other far more effective and far less costly treatments are readily available.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n \u201cIn 1955 Japanese scientists synthesized bear bile,\u201d\u00a0 Williams mentioned.\u00a0 \u201cYou can buy it at most any pharmacy under the brand name Actigall,\u201d\u00a0 otherwise known as Ursodiol,\u00a0 synthesized from concentrated bovine bile, \u00a0\u201cand it is much cheaper than the actual product. \u00a0So for 70 years there has been no need to harvest bile from bears or traffic in bear gallbladders.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet the bear bile industry continues.<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage) <\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n \u201cIn 2022,\u201d\u00a0 Williams reported,\u00a0 \u201cthe China-based market research firm QY Research estimated that the Chinese market for bear bile powder was worth nearly $62 million \u2014 almost 97% of the global market. \u00a0And its value is expected to increase.<\/p>\n \u201cAccording to the report, \u00a0China sold 44.68 tons of bear bile powder in 2021,\u201d\u00a0 at the height of the COVID 19 pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n Marketed as Tan Re Qing,\u00a0 bear bile powder is believed to be the most profitable product sold by the $1.6 billion-per-year Shanghai Kaibao Pharmaceutical Company,\u00a0 headquartered in Shanghai.<\/p>\n The Shanghai Kaibao Pharmaceutical Company appears to hold about half of the total global market share for bear bile products.<\/p>\n \u201cThe very words COVID and bear bile in China are super-sensitive,\u201d\u00a0 ANIMALS 24-7<\/strong> was told by animal advocates within China,\u00a0 but considerable information about the Shanghai Kaibao Pharmaceutical Company and Tan Re Qing is available from international business media.<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/div>\n For example,\u00a0 says Pitchbook<\/em>,\u00a0 headquartered in Seattle,\u00a0 Washington,\u00a0 the Shanghai Kaibao Pharmaceutical Company \u201cproduces traditional Chinese medicines in the form of solid dosage, \u00a0oral liquids, \u00a0and small volume injections.\u00a0 Its main product is Tan Re Qing injection,\u00a0 mainly used for pneumonia, \u00a0acute and chronic bronchitis, \u00a0and upper respiratory tract infection.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTan Re Qing,\u201d\u00a0 ANIMALS 24-7<\/strong> was told, \u00a0\u201cwas previously promoted in some formal channels as helping with some effects of COVID 19, such as high fevers and temperatures, \u00a0inflammation etc.\u201d<\/p>\n Post-COVID 19,\u00a0 however,\u00a0 \u201cIt seems that sales of bear bile have reduced again in China,\u201d\u00a0 an inside source said.<\/p>\n Industry attempts to boost bear bile consumption by finding new uses for it are constant,\u00a0 typically announced in scientific journals.<\/p>\n <\/a> (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n The most recent example appears to be \u201cThe Tan-Re-Qing Capsule mitigates acute lung injury by suppressing the NLRP3 inflammasome and MAPK\/NF-\u03baB signaling pathways,\u201d\u00a0 published in Gene<\/em>,\u00a0 Volume 933, \u00a0on January 15,\u00a0 2025.<\/p>\n But,\u00a0 the inside source suggested,\u00a0 \u201cYou might be interested in the research and production of something called biotransformed bear bile,\u00a0 a mirror image of real bear bile that several pharma companies Shanghai Kaibao Pharmaceutical Company are producing in China today, \u00a0from the by-products of slaughterhouse animals, \u00a0mainly chickens.\u201d<\/p>\n South China Morning Post<\/em> reporter Jennifer Ngo affirmed the Shanghai Kaibao Pharmaceutical Company interest in \u201csynthetic alternatives\u201d to bear bile as far back as July 31,\u00a0 2014.<\/p>\n <\/a> Inspector Clouseau on the trail.<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n \u201cThere seems to be growing support for such production as an alternative to bear bile,\u201d\u00a0 the inside source told ANIMALS 24-7<\/strong>,\u00a0 also mentioning \u201crumors that such a product might one day be obtained from non-animal sources.\u201d<\/p>\n Scientific journal articles promoting biotransformed bear bile are easily found.<\/p>\n One example is \u201cBiotransformed bear bile powder ameliorates diet-induced nonalcoholic steatohepatitis in mice through modulating arginine biosynthesis,\u201d\u00a0 from the journal Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy<\/em>,\u00a0 Volume 168,\u00a0 December 2023.<\/p>\n Another is \u201cBiotransformed bear bile powder alleviates diet-induced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in mice by regulating the gut microbiota and reversing lipid metabolism,\u201d\u00a0 from the Arabian Journal of Chemistry<\/em>,\u00a0 Volume 17,\u00a0 #2,\u00a0 February 2024.<\/p>\n <\/a> Bear bile farm. (Animals Asia photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n Some elements within the Chinese bear bile production industry appear hellbent on politically obstructing the introduction of biotransformed bear bile,\u00a0 as evidenced by Controversy Arises: Revocation of Bio-Transformed Bear Bile Powder Standard by Hainan Province<\/em>,\u00a0 published in 2003 by the Political Research Office of China Biodiversity Conservation & Green Development Foundation.<\/p>\n According to this paper,\u00a0 \u201cBio-transformed bear bile powder is a new alternative product that responds to the country\u2019s call to reduce and gradually ban live bear bile harvesting, \u00a0replaces live bear bile harvesting with in vitro cultured bear bile technology, \u00a0and at the same time ensures that bio-transformed bear bile powder has the same performance as bear bile.<\/p>\n\u201cBio-transformed bear bile powder,\u201d\u00a0 of non-bear origin,\u00a0 shows promise of overtaking the bear bile industry<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n
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(Asia for Animals photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\nBile farming slowed but did not end bear poaching<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nOld information,\u00a0 but current concern<\/h2>\n
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(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\nWhat Ted Williams said<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nSynthetic \u201cbear bile\u201d from cows has been available since 1955<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nThe Shanghai Kaibao Pharmaceutical Company<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nPost-COVID 19 sales slump<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nBear bile promotional science<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nBiotransformed bear bile science<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\nPolitical obstruction<\/h2>\n