Animals Asia

MEDIA RELEASE

Animals Asia calls for action as pathologists warn of contaminants in bear bile Contaminated bear bile could be harming consumers of traditional Chinese medicine, Animals Asia Foundation has warned after two senior pathologists raised serious concerns about its safety. Animals Asia’s China Relations Director Christie Yang said she had decided to go public in the wake of the contaminated milk powder scandal that has left four infants dead and more than 13,000 ill. Ms Yang said experts had compelling health concerns about the bile taken from farmed bears as it was riddled with impurities, including faeces, urine, blood and pus. She said Asiatic black bears (or moon bears) held in captivity rarely contract liver tumours unless they are very old, but almost half of the rescued bears that have died were euthanised because of liver cancer.

Farmed moon bears are developing liver tumours at an alarming rate.

Animals Asia Founder and CEO Jill Robinson said the authorities should be asking what the bile taken from such sick bears was doing to the health of humans who consumed it. “A healthy bear’s bile is as fluid as water and ranges in colour from bright yellowy-orange to green. Our vets have described bile leaking from the gall bladders of our rescued bears as ‘black sludge’.”

Bile from diseased farm bears is described as “black sludge”.

The prized ingredient in bear bile, ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), is used by TCM practitioners for a myriad of complaints, including liver problems. However, UDCA can be synthesised easily under laboratory conditions – the UDCA produced is pure, clean and reliable. There are also more than 50 herbal alternatives. “For two years now, we have been telling the authorities of our concerns, but still nothing is being done. Here we have a very similar scenario to the milk powder scandal; people who take bear bile as a traditional medicine cure have a right to know just what it is that they are consuming,” Ms Robinson...