Beijing: Sixty-six Chinese medicinal herbs have been added to the European Pharmacopoeia, an authoritative reference work for quality control of medication, after undergoing "strict examination" and gaining approval from all signatory states.
This means there are clear quality standards for Chinese herbs exported to Europe, which help the drugs gain wider acceptance in foreign markets, according to Professor Gerhard Franz, Chairman of the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Working Party of the European Pharmacopoeia. He made the remarks yesterday at an international conference on TCM's future held in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province.
"The herbs have undergone strict examination and discussion and have been approved by all 37 signatory states," Fanz said. The listed Chinese herbs, including ginseng, account for nearly a third of all herbs in the pharmacopoeia.
Franz said their goal is to include at least 300 commonly used Chinese herbs, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today. Exports of traditional Chinese drugs have been impeded by misuse and substitutions for similar plants, as well as contamination by heavy metals and microbial insecticides.
Xu Runlong, Deputy head of Zhejiang's health and family planning commission, said due to lack of quality standards, China's TCM industry lags far behind its counterparts in Japan the Republic of Korea in foreign markets, adding that modern technology and ideas must be applied in developing TCM.
