The Chinese have long believed that bear gall bladders hold special healing qualities — leading to the worldwide massacre of bears to feed the Chinese traditional medicine market. Now a publicly traded pharmaceutical company, Guizhentang, has introduced “Bear bile farms” where hundreds of bears are held in cramped cages to be harvested for their bile. The horrific practice is carried out on drugged bears with a hypodermic needle.
The Chinese government of course has done nothing to stop this disgusting practice and the company now plans to triple the size of its bear-bile farms. It currently has 400 bears being “milked” of their bile.
What is a positive development is the growing opposition in China. Environmentalists are often arrested in China. Animal rights activists believe that about 20,000 black bears are kept on about 100 bile farms in China.
It is a practice that any government with a modicum of decency and humanity would shutdown. Then there is the Chinese government.
This is not just a problem on the mainland. Years ago, I went to Taiwan as part of a delegation to discuss environmental issues among other subjects. I went to “Snake Alley” to show government officials that it was easy to buy bear, tiger, and other prohibited items. When confronted with the evidence, the minister responded that these remedies actually work — a curious response since they are banned internationally. There remains a cultural hold on many Chinese — including educated Chinese — with these traditional medicines. That is why the opposition in China is so encouraging.
Source: NY Times
I’m currently doing an assignment on the ethics behind bear bile farms. And as far as I’m against the practice, it’s also very easy to see the other side to the argument, which is what more people need to do. Traditional Chinese Medicine is a long standing tradition thousands of years old, and to ask of it to be cut out of Asian culture is unrealistic. Yes the bear bile does have viable medical attributes, and yes there are other alternatives, but this does not mean we can force an end to a deep rooted tradition. They used to just kill the bears on site and remove the gall bladder, which lead to drastic demise of wild populations. So things have *in some respects* improved. But in order to make the situation better on the whole, all sides of the conflict need to be seen and analysed, and not just jump in with straight up confrontation to the practice. Only really realised this after writing my assignment on it and taking a good hard look at the situation.
It is very interesting and I’ll try my best to find some viable solutions to the issue 😉
HORRIFIC AND HEARTBREAKING
Heartbreaking to hear the mother fought lose from her vest to try to comfort her baby when they were trying to prep it for surgery without anesthetic hearing its agonizing cries went over to it and licked the tears off its face to try to comfort it then strangeled it so it wouldn’t have to suffer anymore then she killed herself by bashing her head against the wall. Does anyone in China and Vietnam have compassion and a heart. I cried for hours imagining the horrific screams from the baby and what the mother did. Anyone doing this to a living creature is evil to the core and absolutely heartless.
TD
I thought the environmental poisoning was for that.
The only good side of this is that the bear bile will probably defer other health care for ill people and they will die. Population control along the lines of one child per couple.
Bron,
You are right about omega 3 in beef.
The problems with beef are the presence of large amounts of saturated fats.
And low amounts of unsaturated fats, which olive oil is rich in.
Start you day with a tablespoon of olive oil or canola oil.
On crusty bread with a bit of jam if you prefer. Pretend you are in Morocco.
A touch of garlic salt and you’re in heaven. And guaranteed to keep the girls from kissing you.
MichaelB,
You are correct, at least in what you say.
Glad you’re keepin’ an eye on the EPA/DHA versus ALA discussion.
What are your sources. NIH or commercial?
MM
Of course they work. We’ve been living on them as long as we’ve been humans. But if the claims are well researched is up to you to check out.
The book is at my cottage. Can’t find my order for it on Amazon.
Will get back to you, A quick check shows FFs have become all the rage since last looking 4 years ago.
People who support the use of fish oil as a direct source of EPA and DHA will sometimes cite studies that claim that some groups of people are not able to convert ALA to DHA, at least not very efficiently.
People who support exclusive use of plant foods tend to point to studies that suggest that humans don’t have a problem converting ALA found in plant foods to EPA and DHA, thereby suggesting that it is not essential to eat animal foods that contain EPA and DHA.
The Jury is out on this
In inverse order I’ll get back to you’all.
Michaelb
Unfortunately the form of omega 3 in plant foods are not readily absorbed by humans, particularly the elderly. But I eat walnuts often, and count of salmon, herring, sardines, and mackeral for the rest.
Omega 3’s come from the plant foods the animals eat. Skip the middle man. Algae and some seeds, fruits.
MM:
Celery lowers blood pressure and grass fed beef is higher or at least as high in Omega 3’s as is salmon or other cold water fish. Food is a drug and you should eat with that in mind. The fresher the better and the more natural the better. I wonder if farmers put minerals on their land in addition to fertilizers or just the minerals required by the plants?
Atkins, I think, overlooked this fact when he came to the conclusion that beef/meat was good for you. although you do lose weight with low carb diets. Even people who are sedentary can lose weight.