Synthetic and herbal alternatives exist for every application of bear bile in traditional medicine — promoting these alternatives eliminates the need for a practice that causes extreme suffering to thousands of bears.
Bear bile farming causes extreme suffering that is both unnecessary and easily avoidable through already-available alternatives. Synthetic UDCA is pharmacologically identical to bear bile UDCA and is already used in Western medicine for gallbladder and liver conditions. The tradition of bear bile use predates synthetic alternatives — the continued use of bear bile when alternatives exist is a cultural inertia rather than a medical necessity. Campaigns that make alternatives visible, accessible, and acceptable within traditional medicine frameworks have succeeded in shifting prescribing patterns. This is a welfare problem with a clear solution already developed — the challenge is adoption, not invention.