中国中医药协会会长为取熊胆辩护
The China Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine (CATCM) held a press conference Thursday afternoon to defend Guizhentang, a pharmaceuticals company seeking to be listed, which extracts bile from captive bears to make traditional Chinese medicines.
The living conditions of bears kept captive have been greatly improved, and the bile-extracting process is as easy as drawing water from a faucet, said Fang Shuting, chairman of CATCM.
The conference came after animal welfare groups and members of the public protested against an IPO (initial public offering) plan by Guizhentang.
Previously, the China Animal Protection Association posted a series of photos portraying the cruelty that bears suffered from the cruel tube drainage of their bile. Viewers were also shocked by images of bears put in iron vests which prevent them from harming or killing themselves.
Fang refuted that those pictures were no longer current, since enterprises in China have already adopted new bear bile extracting skills, which are purportedly painless and tube-free.
According to Fang, it's prohibited to extract bile from bears which were captured in the wild. In addition, bear farming technology has been developed with detailed technical specifications for the bears' size and breeding. Also, one of the 68 bear farms will be opened to the media.
However, an animal welfare expert has painted a sharply contrasting picture.
"Those more than 200 black bears we saved have undergone a variety of bile extraction techniques, which include the so-called painless method without putting tube inside the abdomen," said Zhang Xiaohai, Director of External Affairs for the Animals Asia Foundation in China.
"When we performed surgeries on these bears, we found that their gall bladders have various degrees of pathological changes," said Zhang.
Zhang appealed to the bear farms. "We want to be invited to visit the bear farms, to confirm those bears are actually happy."
China has 68 legal bile bear farms with more than 10,000 bears, 6,000 to 8,000 of which are scheduled to undergo bile extraction operations, said Fang.
Fang denied that the association has a "direct connection" to Guizhentang's IPO plan, adding that the company is not a member of the association, the Xinhua news agency reports.
Bear bile, a popular ingredient in TCM, is believed to cure liver and eye ailments, remove toxins and eliminate fevers.
Bear farms, which began to thrive in China in the early 1980s, remain legal in the country, although calls for eliminating the industry have mounted in recent years.
【志远翻译社】医学翻译中心友情转载
The living conditions of bears kept captive have been greatly improved, and the bile-extracting process is as easy as drawing water from a faucet, said Fang Shuting, chairman of CATCM.
The conference came after animal welfare groups and members of the public protested against an IPO (initial public offering) plan by Guizhentang.
Previously, the China Animal Protection Association posted a series of photos portraying the cruelty that bears suffered from the cruel tube drainage of their bile. Viewers were also shocked by images of bears put in iron vests which prevent them from harming or killing themselves.
Fang refuted that those pictures were no longer current, since enterprises in China have already adopted new bear bile extracting skills, which are purportedly painless and tube-free.
According to Fang, it's prohibited to extract bile from bears which were captured in the wild. In addition, bear farming technology has been developed with detailed technical specifications for the bears' size and breeding. Also, one of the 68 bear farms will be opened to the media.
However, an animal welfare expert has painted a sharply contrasting picture.
"Those more than 200 black bears we saved have undergone a variety of bile extraction techniques, which include the so-called painless method without putting tube inside the abdomen," said Zhang Xiaohai, Director of External Affairs for the Animals Asia Foundation in China.
"When we performed surgeries on these bears, we found that their gall bladders have various degrees of pathological changes," said Zhang.
Zhang appealed to the bear farms. "We want to be invited to visit the bear farms, to confirm those bears are actually happy."
China has 68 legal bile bear farms with more than 10,000 bears, 6,000 to 8,000 of which are scheduled to undergo bile extraction operations, said Fang.
Fang denied that the association has a "direct connection" to Guizhentang's IPO plan, adding that the company is not a member of the association, the Xinhua news agency reports.
Bear bile, a popular ingredient in TCM, is believed to cure liver and eye ailments, remove toxins and eliminate fevers.
Bear farms, which began to thrive in China in the early 1980s, remain legal in the country, although calls for eliminating the industry have mounted in recent years.
【志远翻译社】医学翻译中心友情转载
