Bear bile firm seeks expansion despite IPO pullout(2)

The Hong Kong-based organization has strongly campaigned against the bear bile maker's IPO plan for the past three years.

Zhang added that the enthusiastic involvement of Chinese citizens in their campaigns signals a growing awareness of animal rights in China.

Guizhentang's IPO pullout, however, will not end long-running debates that mainly center on whether the bears suffer when being milked for bile.

Bear bile, which has been used in TCM for 3,000 years, is believed to be an effective cure for liver and eye diseases, as well as fever.

China now has 68 legal bear bile farms that house over 10,000 black bears, according to the China Association of TCM.

Guizhentang has assured skeptics that it uses painless methods to milk the bears every day by temporarily inserting a fine catheter into their abdomens.

It promises the operation is not detrimental to the bears' health and is much more humane than a practice used decades ago that forced the animals to wear mental pipes inserted into their abdomens day and night.

But animal rights advocates argue that the new method fails to reduce suffering, as it also results in open, non-healing wounds.

In addition, bear bile producers, TCM experts and animal rights advocates also hold divergent opinions on whether the use of natural bear bile can be fully replaced by synthetic alternatives or other drugs.

Foreign pharmaceutical firms have produced ursodeoxycholic acid, the active therapeutic substance in bear bile, for decades. The synthetic drug is extensively used to treat gallstones and liver cancer worldwide.

"Culture should never be used as an excuse for animal mistreatment and the Chinese culture is definitely not a culture of cruelty," Zhang said.

SALES AFFECTED

The controversy swirling around Guizhentang seems to have cast a shadow on its sales in large cities, where citizens tend to be more concerned with animal welfare.

At a large drugstore in downtown Beijing, bottled bear bile powder sells for 220 yuan per gram.

Song Yigang, a PR manager for Beijing Golden Elephant Pharmacy, said sales of Guizhentang's bear bile products are expected to halve this year in comparison to 2011 and 2012, partly due to public pressure.

The owners of several small pharmacies in Beijing said stopped selling bear bile remedies a long time ago. "Their purchase price is too high and we don't want to get in trouble," said one of the owners.

In February 2012, dozens of animal rights advocates rallied outside a Guizhentang store in Shenzhen, a large city in south China's Guangdong Province, to protest its IPO plan.

Although she has suffered from hepatitis B for three decades, Li Xinmei said she would never buy any bear bile product.

"Bear bile is not the only remedy," said the 56-year-old resident of north China's Hebei Province.

Zhang said AAF is working on a proposal to gradually weed out bear bile farming in the next three to five years without cutting too many jobs.

"Relevant parties should create a plan to help those working in the industry make career changes and ensure that investors don't lose too much," he said.

The organization has also called for more support from the government on research and development for bear bile substitutes.