China has approved the use of bear bile to treat COVID-19 patients, angering animal rights advocates and raising fears that it could undermine efforts to stop the illegal animal trade, which is blamed for the emergence of the pandemic.
The move comes just weeks after Beijing banned the sale of wild animals for food — citing the risk of diseases spreading from animals to humans — but China’s National Health Commission last month issued guidelines recommending the use of tan re qing — an injection that contains bear bile powder, goat horn and other ingredients — to treat COVID-19 patients.
The virus is believed to have come from bats, but researchers think that it might have spread to humans via a mammal that served as an intermediate host.
The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention previously identified wild animals sold by a vendor at Huanan Seafood City in Wuhan as COVID-19’s source.
Conservationists have long accused China of tolerating a cruel trade in wild animals as exotic menu items or for use in traditional medicines.
About 20,000 bears are being held in cages across China to meet demand from traditional medicine suppliers, World Animal Protection spokeswoman Kirsty Warren said.
Bile farming is legal in China, but exports of bile or treatments made from it are banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, of which China is a signatory.
“Across Asia, bear bile trade is widespread, although it is illegal in most countries,” Richard Thomas of animal rights non-governmental organization Traffic. “The active ingredient in bear bile, ursodeoxycholic acid, is readily synthesized in laboratories — so even if it did prove to be popular, there should be no need for bear bile to be included [in medicines].”
Beijing implemented a similar ban on the trade and consumption of wild animals following the 2003 SARS outbreak, but the practices made a comeback.
However, in a sign that the measures are being taken more seriously this time, Shenzhen also passed a law this week banning the consumption of wild animals — including cat and dog meat.
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