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According to a report by Fox News, China’s National Health Commission has recommended injecting bear bile to treat the coronavirus caused distress in the wildlife activism community.
A list of suggested medications, from both Eastern and Western medicine, was distributed by the Chinese government to their citizens.
The traditional Chinese medication that has the wildlife community in an uproar combines bear bile with goat horn and dried fruit.
The belief is that the formula can ease respiratory distress and cure illnesses of the the throat and lungs. Those are experienced by those that have contracted the coronavirus. The coronavirus damages a person’s lungs and reduces their ability to absorb oxygen, making the bear bile injection an ideal remedy for those that believe that it is an effective medicine.
China has been promoting bear bile as a coronavirus treatment, upsetting wildlife activists that were already embattled with the Chinese government over concerns about the black market for rhinoceros horn.
Fox News reported on the backlash from the wildlife advocacy community.
Aron White, a wildlife campaigner of the London-based nonprofit Environmental Investigation Agency condemned the action taken by the Chinese government.
“Restricting the eating of wildlife while promoting medicines containing wildlife parts exemplifies the mixed messages being sent by the Chinese authorities on wildlife trade,” White said in a statement via the EIA website.
“A huge number of people in China have been calling for greater restrictions on wildlife trade. EIA strongly supports these calls and wants to see China’s ban extended to cover the use of threatened wildlife for any purpose, including in traditional medicine.”
His organization first learned about the recommendation via social media posts from illegal traders.
In mid-February, China took steps to ban the consumption and trade of wild animals in an effort to halt the spread of coronavirus. Many believe that the virus originated from an animal and seafood market in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping had called for China to “resolutely outlaw and harshly crackdown” on illegal wildlife trade, partially due to the public health risk it poses.
Much of the criticism of the bear bile comes from the extraction often involves the messy removal of a black bear’s gall bladder without precision or care, leading to the bear to eventually die.
Although several vaccinations and treatment are under development, a cure has not been announced by the World Health Organization. The recommendations for treatment of the symptoms and precautions for the caretakers evolve by the hour as trials are set to begin in the coming months.
