BRUSSELS -- Last month the cruel practice of farming Asiatic black bears for their bile was put firmly on the global agenda as 377 members of the European Parliament -- more than half the EP membership -- signed a written declaration calling on China to ban this barbarity. With bear bile already illegal in the European Union, the EP declaration should prompt further action from the European Commission and individual member states in the battle against bear-bile farms.
Why is this practice considered cruel? The bears are kept in insanitary conditions in small cages with rusty catheters permanently inserted into their gall bladders, draining the approximately 2 kg of bile produced by the liver each year. The industry started in the early 1980s when entrepreneurs imported the technology from North Korea and received permission to farm, principally in neighboring Jilin Province.
Initially the Chinese government paid little attention to the industry, since black bears registered only as a "Grade 2" endangered species and were, therefore, the responsibility of provincial authorities rather than the national administration. As a result, the number of farms grew to almost 100, ranging from virtual family enterprises (30 to 50 bears) to industrial operations of more than 500 bears. Then loud protests began.