China Standardizes Production of Traditional Chinese Medicine

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, May 14, 2002

China Standardizes Production of Traditional Chinese Medicine

To ensure the quality of traditional Chinese medicine, China will officially implement a set of regulations to standardize the production of traditional medicinal materials from June 1, according to a top official with the State Drug Administration (SDA).

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According to the news of May 13, 2002 by Xinhua from Changchun the Chinese medicine and raw materials, somewhat mystic for a very long time in history will for the first time be produced in a unified standard in its homeland.

As revealed by official with the State Drug Administration (SDA), the GAP for controlling and supervising the production of Chinese medicine and materials, which has recently passed appraisal and approval, will be put into effect as from Jun 1 onwards.

The authority points out, the publication of the GAP indicates that China is right in the course for standardizing its traditional medicine industry, so that the quality of the Chinese medicine can be guaranteed from the very beginning. It is good for the long-established Chinese medicine to march into the international market via a modernized and scientific way.

As acknowledged by many experts of the traditional medicine circle the lack of standardization has seriously hindered the progress for the Chinese traditional medicine to march into the world. According to statistics, every year witnesses a sales-value of US$15 billion for traditional medicine in the world market. However, as a homeland for traditional medicine China receives only a sales-value of 600 million in the US dollars, a mere 3 percent in the international market.

As Bai Huiliang, Director of SDA said at the "First High Level Forum on Development of Chinese Medicine and Medical Industry" the "Regulation for Controlling Production and Management of Chinese Traditional Medicine" comprises of 57 articles in 10 chapters.

The regulation has laid out strict standard and requirement for controlling the cultivation, gathering and collection, packing and transportation of the medicinal herbs and materials, worked out strict criteria for controlling the remains of insecticide and contents of heavy metals.

And strict restriction has also been mapped out on the cultivation scale and growing periods of the medicinal herbs according to different varieties. They must be up to the ecological standard of the state, such as the "irrigation water for herbal medicine must be up to the water quality for the irrigation of farmland" etc.

Bai also expressed: "Those foreign friends who are doubtful about the therapeutic effect and quality of the Chinese traditional medicine may feel at ease to take the Chinese medicine boldly as they are all turned out in line with the national standard."

By PD Online Staff Han Rongliang

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