The move comes just weeks after China banned the sale of wild animals for food, citing the risk of diseases spreading from animals to humans. The active ingredient in bear bile, ursodeoxycholic acid, is used to dissolve gallstones and treat liver disease but has no proven effectiveness in treating Covid-19. But activists say green lighting a treatment that uses an animal product is “both tragic and ironic” given that the origin of the deadly coronavirus is linked to the trade and consumption of wild animals. Chinese disease control officials have previously identified wild animals sold in a market in a Wuhan market as the source of the coronavirus pandemic. Conservationists have long accused China of tolerating a cruel trade in wild animals as exotic menu items or for use in traditional medicines, the efficacy of which is not confirmed by science.

Source: Manila Times April 02, 2020 16:15 UTC