Weekly Current Affairs: April week-2 - Bear Bile

After banning eating wild animals, China is now promoting injections containing ‘Bear Bile’ to treat COVID-19.

After banning eating wild animals, China is now promoting injections containing ‘Bear Bile’ to treat COVID-19.
Chinese government is recommending the use of ‘Tan Re Qing’, an injection that contains bear bile (fluid that aids digestion in bears), as part of multiple treatments for severe and critical COVID-19 cases.
The Tan Re Qing injection has been used by traditional Chinese medicine practitioners to treat bronchitis and upper respiratory infections.
It consists of bear bile, which is secreted by the animal’s liver and stored in the gallbladder.
For centuries, China has been extracting bile from various species of bears, including Asiatic black bears and brown bears, through excruciating methods such as inserting a catheter, syringe, or pipe into their gallbladder.
The bile contains high levels of ursodeoxycholic acid, also known as ursodiol, which is clinically proven to help dissolve gallstones and treat liver disease.
In fact, ursodeoxycholic acid has been used as a synthetic drug worldwide for decades.