Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) involves some ingredients derived from animals, including endangered species, with significant welfare concerns around farming conditions and cruel collection methods.
Animal welfare in TCM represents one of the most severe cases of institutionalised animal suffering in any commercial context. Bear bile farming causes acute and chronic suffering through confinement, infection, and repeated extraction procedures. The demand for endangered species ingredients drives both individual animal suffering and population-level welfare harm through hunting and habitat disruption. The welfare solution requires a combination of regulatory pressure, alternative ingredient development, and cultural change. Growing domestic opposition to bear bile farming within China and international certification pressure are creating change. Consumer choices to avoid TCM products containing animal ingredients support this transition.