From LadyFreethinker.org: Sign: Stop China's Promotion of Bear Bile to Treat Coronavirus
An alarming claim which started in Asia is circulating the world, claiming that bear bile will provide salvation from COVID-19.
Caged Bear...
KaiBao Pharmaceuticals, China’s largest manufacturer of bear bile
products, is marketing what it claims to be a cure for coronavirus. The
medicine includes bear bile, which is a common and controversial ingredient
of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The company is also promoting an
injection of TanReQing, which contains bear bile and is said to reduce
inflammation, but has long been a drug that concerns the Chinese Health
Authority due to dangerous side effects. TanReQing is listed in the Top Ten
dangerous drugs by the National China Drug Administration.
It’s estimated that more than 10,000 bears are farmed for their bile in
Asia, caged in extreme confinement, without space to even turn around for up
to 30 years. The bears suffer immense pain during the regular extraction of
bile from their gall bladders, and the industry is widely and globally
condemned.
Caged Bear - Image
©
Jo-Anne McArthur, We Animals
The promotion of bear bile by KaiBao has a bitter irony, as the cause of
COVID-19 is known to be rooted in the exploitation of wildlife – a category
into which the extraction of bear bile clearly falls.
On 24 February 2020, ACTAsia applauded China’s National People’s Congress
(NPC) when it passed a ban on the eating of wildlife in China, but the list
of wild animals falls short of many species categorised as ‘livestock’. The
ban must now extend to all other uses of wild animal to make it
comprehensive, including the use of animals bred for fur, TCM, entertainment
and experiments.
ACTAsia urges China’s National People’s Congress to place a permanent ban on
breeding, eating and trading in all wildlife for all commercial purposes. If
we are to avoid future outbreaks of coronavirus and similar diseases, it is
essential that we stop commercial exploitation of all wildlife immediately.
No cure exists for COVID-19 to-date, and it is likely that the nearest we
will come to one is a vaccination, which is currently being developed. There
is no evidence whatsoever that bear bile is effective in treating
coronavirus.
“These claims are selfish profiteering and extremely dangerous,” commented
Pei Su, ACTAsia CEO. “Across the world, admirable health professionals are
collaborating and sharing scientific evidence to beat coronavirus, risking
their own lives for the greater good. These trusted professionals have our
best interests at heart. It’s abhorrent that bear bile manufacturers have
jumped on the back of this tragedy, by playing on people’s fears with
dollar-signs in their eyes.”
Please help us to close legal loopholes and secure a permanent ban on the
commercial exploitation of wildlife for ALL purposes in China.
You can sign our petition here so that together we can prevent future
outbreaks of COVID-19:
Stop coronavirus - call for permanent ban on commercial wildlife
breeding, markets & trade.
If you’ve signed already, please consider a donation to take our petition further, and support our campaign to educate children, consumers and professionals in China to live more compassionate lives.