Guizhentang, China's largest bear gall medicine company, based in east China's Fujian Province, is facing great pressure from both animal protection activists and netizens due to the company's intention to go public in the Chinese Growth Enterprise Market (GEM), the Beijing Morning Post reported Tuesday.

Guizhentang appeared in the list of enterprises to have made Initial Public Offering applications from the GEM Issuing Supervision Department of the China Security Regulatory Commission on February 1st.

Yu Jichun, a TV producer, stated in his microblog that 'if Guizhentang is listed on the stock market, it will be the end of the bears'. A gruesome live video has been attached to the comment showing the process of thrusting a pipe into the animal to collect gall from live bears. His microblog has attracted hundreds of comments. An increasing number of netizens are now expressing their strong opposition towards Guizhentang's listing.

Guizhentang denies that its production process is brutal or that it harms the bears, insisting that its use of 'no pipe, no pain draining technology' is lawful according to the national regulations. But animal protection activists insist that it is impossible for the procedure to be painless.

In China, bear gall production is lawful. But the regulations that bear gall producers must follow are becoming stricter. Thrusting pipes into the bears to collect gall is clearly stated as illegal.

Bear gall production is a highly profitable and fast growing business. There are very few large scale producers of gall powder in China, and Guizhentang is the largest among them, occupying 24% of the total market.

Animals Asia Foundation (AAF), the Hong Kong-based NGO had already publicized their opposition towards Guizhentang's intention of making a public offering early last year. According to Jill Robinson, the founder of AAF, gall production is not only cruel to the animal, but also poses potential dangers to human health. The gall is very often mixed with the bear's parasites, pus, blood and even excrement.