Those with the highest salary and education background in China are the largest group of purchasers and opponents of products containing bear bile extracted from living, caged animals, according to a report released by a Beijing-based animal activist NGO on Tuesday.
"The report showed that the major buyers of bear bile products work in the media, finance and medical sectors, and most of them are young people, even though they are aware of the cruelty," said Zhang Xiaohai, executive secretary-general of Ta Foundation, the NGO that issued the report.
Many purchase the products for their parents' health, but consumers are not informed of the safety risks, Jiang Jianjian - a manager with HorizonKey, a Beijing-based research organization that conducted the report - said Tuesday.
He explained that bile extracted from captive bears, most of which suffer from cholecystitis and even liver cancer from the exposure of their gallbladders to air during the bile extraction process, might pose health risks to bile users.
According to the report, about 77 percent of 1,892 respondents from 27 cities said "the cruel behavior should be stopped" while 21 percent were aware of the brutality of the extraction process but believed that there is no alternative approach.
Fujian Greetown Medicine Industry, a controversial company known for its extraction of bear bile for use in medicinal products, was thwarted by animal rights activists when it attempted to go public in 2013 and again in 2015.
