Programs & Campaigns

The Use of Animals in Eastern Medicines

Moon Bear bile, for example, has traditionally been used in China to treat gallstones and liver disease. It is now also used in shampoos, wines, and sodas where it serves no purpose at all. Even with its medicinal properties, there are known alternatives that are as effective for the ills traditionally treated with bear bile. Bile is either extracted through stainless steel catheters or by opening the gall bladder and connecting the corresponding abdominal hole with a tube or stitches. Bears may endure decades of daily bile extractions - an excruciatingly painful procedure. They often lose their teeth from constantly gnawing at their bars, often lose limbs and paws from trauma, and even grow into the cage bars from constant and cramped captivity.

What you can do:

• Before you buy herbal products, make sure they do not contain bear bile or other animal products. Choose non-animal products with similar medicinal properties. Ask that your alternative medicine practitioner respect your ethics and not prescribe any products or formulas with animal ingredients.

Examples of Alternatives
Rhino horn alternatives: Rehmannia Glutinosa and Captis Chinensis
Antelope Horn alternatives: Tian Ma, Gou Teng and Chrysanthemum

• Be aware of other species in herbal medicines from China and Asia such as: tiger (dried penis is believed to be an aphrodisiac), rhino horn (believed to be an aphrodisiac), and even endangered plants (such as sea cucumber) in traditional medicines. Though illegal, products containing these ingredients do find their way to U.S. shelves. Report these products to authorities immediately.

• In addition to the use of endangered species in Eastern medicines, there are uses of other animals that are "farmed" or wild caught that involve cruelty and suffering as well - for example: deer antler, a variety of dried insects and other mammalian animal parts.

• Download NEAVS Special Report by Andi Mowrer and our free "3 R's" poster on the use of endangered species in Eastern medicine. "Recognize, Reject, Report" can be distributed to health food stores, acupuncturists, herbalists, chiropractors and other alternative health practitioners. Help your alternative health practitioner recognize products illegally containing endangered animal ingredients and know how to report them to help end animal suffering and death for the purported sake of human health.

• Earmark a donation to the NEAVS Sanctuary Fund, as "Moon Bears." Your donation will go directly to support bear rescues and end bile farms.

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The State of the Anti-Vivisection Movement in America