ANIMAL ASIA FOUNDATION MEDIA RELEASE~
21 July 2010
Vietnam's highest-ranking traditional medicine practitioner has warned consumers to stop taking bear bile products or risk liver and kidney damage - even death.
Doctor Nguyen Xuan Huong has joined Animals Asia's campaign to end bear bile
farming after seeing the shocking effects of bile consumption on some of his
patients, including two government officials who died after taking bear bile
tonics.
AAF_Dr Nguyen Xuan Huong_2010_2.JPG)
Dr Huong, who is Chairman of the Traditional Medicine Association of Vietnam
- and carries the title of People's Doctor the highest ranking position in
the country's medical profession - has treated 10 patients for bear bile
poisoning since 1985, including two he couldn't save. Dr Huong's last bear
bile patient was in 2006 - a 55-year-old male from Hanoi who had consumed
too much bear bile and was jaundiced. Dr Huong's diagnosis was damage to the
liver caused by the bear bile. He successfully treated this patient, but for
others it was too late.
When the Director of Construction in Quang Ninh Province came to Dr Huong in
1995 it was already too late - his skin was yellow, he couldn't walk or talk
and he had severe cirrhosis of the liver. He died two weeks later aged 50.
The director had consumed bear bile mixed with wine for virility.
Dr Huong's second fatal case was in 2002 - a 75-year-old Hanoi doctor, whose
son kept bears, had taken 2cc of bear bile mixed with wine as a health
tonic. By the time he arrived at Dr Huong's Hanoi clinic, his body was
covered in dark patches and his fingernails and toenails had turned black
and later fell off. Dr Huong treated the man for a year with herbal medicine
to increase the function of the liver, but his organs were two severely
damaged and he died from the poisoning. He said the man looked similar to
the man in the attached photo, who was also being treated for bear bile
poisoning.
"In each of these 10 cases, all had damage to the liver and in most cases,
the liver was almost gone - the part that was left was swollen, necrotic and
hard," Dr Huong said. "Bear bile also causes kidney failure." He said other
symptoms included loss of appetite, fatigue, red eyes, aches and pains in
the body, blood in the urine and severe dehydration and perspiration.
Dr Huong said bear bile was rarely used in authentic traditional medicine
and was more likely to be sold as a quack "cure" for hangovers or impotence.
"I've read 17,000 traditional medicine formulas and only six mentioned the
use of bear bile and even then, its use is minimal and it has little effect.
People should never use bear bile - even for complaints such as fertility
and strengthening the body. Eighty per cent of those consuming bear bile
will have liver damage from drinking even 2cc, and if you mix it with rice
wine, the damage will be worse."
Dr Huong, who served two terms in Vietnam's National Assembly, has
repeatedly raised the issue in the assembly but failed to make an
impression. "Even highly educated people still don't understand the dangers.
Bear bile serves a purpose in bears - it aids in their digestion, just as
human bile aids in our digestion. It goes against nature for humans to
consume bile from bears; it attacks the organs - and the bears' become ill
when their bile is extracted. "Bile is obviously different in each species
and is there to serve the animal in whose body it exists."
Animals Asia Founder and CEO Jill Robinson said she hoped Dr Huong's
decision to go public would prompt health and customs authorities to look
urgently into the risks of bear bile consumption. "Korean tourists are
lining up to visit bear farms in Vietnam on organised bus tours, many
leaving with vials of fresh bear bile as a hangover cure - and bear bile is
sold on the black market in Chinatowns around the world. The longer it takes
the authorities to act, the more people will fall ill and possibly die."
AAF_TuanBendixsenDrHuongJill Robinson_2010.jpg)
Dr Huong qualified as a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioner in
1972 after starting his studies in 1965. He boasts 16 generations of family
working in TCM. Dr Huong studied for six years at the Beijing University of
TCM.
Animals Asia's Vietnam Director Tuan Bendixsen said that while bear bile
extraction was illegal in Vietnam, lack of enforcement meant the practice
was still widespread. The bears are drugged - usually with the illegal drug,
ketamine - removed from their small cages, restrained with ropes and jabbed
in the abdomen with four-inch needles until the gall bladder is found. The
bile is extracted with a catheter and medicinal pump. There are currently
over 4,000 bears on farms in Vietnam.
In November 2005, Animals Asia signed an agreement with the Vietnamese
government to rescue 200 bears and care for them at our Vietnam Moon Bear
Rescue Centre in Tam Dao National Park. Our rescue centre is currently home
to over 60 bears confiscated by the government and is ready to receive more
bears rescued from bear farms.
Dr Huong is available for interviews in Vietnamese and Chinese.
Mobile: 0913 059211; Clinic: 04 8472515.
English translation can be arranged through Animals Asia. Dr Huong's
comments in this press release have been translated from Vietnamese.
Green Korea urges the Korean government to end the 30 year history of bear farming policy in the country.
On July 9 at the National Assembly Seoul, Green Korea successfully held a special exhibition inviting 30 guests from all different areas - including members of the National Assembly, doctors of Korean Traditional Medicine associations and executives of the bear farmer's association.
The exhibition ended with invited guests putting bear foot prints in ink on a white board with the title 'Passage to a Freedom'. Each guest was also invited to write a comment alongside their 'print'.
Ms Kim Miyong - the bear team manager of Green Korea added a message arguing that it is now time to act to end the 30 years of agony and for the Government to change its policy on the bear farming issue and to legislate to ban the bear farming industry.
Mr. Yeom, Kwang-ho, the Chairman of the Bear Farm Association also expressed his hope that the Korean government will buy all 1140 farmed bears across the country. He said the total cost of compensating bear farmers would be around 20 to 30 billion won (20 to 30 million dollars) - asking a minimum of 17.5 million won per a bear.
Since the bear farmers are also responsible for making the wrong decision from the beginning - this figure seems impossible to be met by the Korean government when the compensation process eventually starts.
Of course none of these figures include the cost of moving the bears to sanctuaries to see out the rest of their days. But this action by Green Korea is a wonderful start.
Again, well done Green Korea!
For those who are interested in more stories, please click the following link-
http://www.ihknews.com/news_PDF/news20100708.pdf
For those who wants to help Green Korea's stop bear farming law campaign, please go to the following link-
http://bear.greenkorea.org/sub04/04_view.asp?ntNo=40
http://bear.greenkorea.org/sub04/04_view.asp?ntNo=39
http://bear.greenkorea.org/sub04/04_view.asp?ntNo=38
