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PETITION TARGET: National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China

In a disappointing step backward for animal rights and human health, China’s National Health Commission is recommending an injection containing bear bile as a treatment for COVID-19, despite the WHO insisting there is currently no cure for coronavirus.

Bears harvested for their bile are subjected to excruciating and invasive extraction methods, including cutting a hole in their bodies and forcing a metal tube through the wound. Kept in cramped cages, they suffer from starvation, dehydration, infection and other untreated medical problems. These bile farms, like live animal markets, are potential environments for bacterial infections and viruses to “make the jump” from animals to humans.

Shockingly, Tan Re Qing, a medication that includes bear bile, is recommended on a government-sponsored list of suggested coronavirus treatments. China is supposed to be curbing their wildlife trade because of its link to spreading zoonotic disease, and this directly contradicts that effort.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, which started as a result of poor animal welfare standards, enough is enough. By recommending bear bile as a COVID-19 treatment, the Chinese government is encouraging animal cruelty and prolonging the wildlife trade, which poses a global health risk. China has made tremendous progress with its recent ban on wildlife consumption, but we must implore them to broaden their scope and end all wild animal exploitation.

Sign this petition urging China’s National Health Commission to remove Tan Re Qing from its list of recommended coronavirus treatments and to ban the use of all wild animals in medicine.