TCM has a long way to go global
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"We did not push our traditional Chinese medicines into the FDA's clinical trials early since westerners would not totally trust our medicines and treatment if they do not fully understand the Oriental culture," Tian told Xinhua.
"Production sales in our overseas stores are conducted in absolute abidance with local regulations and laws. We sell them as health foods, dietary supplements and other categories as required by local laws," Tian said.
Prof. Di said another big challenge for traditional Chinese medicines is the consistency of the quality of the medicine's ingredients.
Unlike western medicines which are usually made of chemical compounds targeting specific diseases, traditional Chinese medicines rely on materials, mostly medicinal plants, whose quality differs among different batches and production origins.
"It's even more worrying now because of pollution, climate change, residue of pesticides and heavy metal on herbs." Di said.
Nevertheless, Di believes the prospect for traditional Chinese medicines to go global is still quite promising.
"Western medicines have their own defects, where Chinese medicines could make up for. For instance, in treating chronic diseases Chinese medicines could be used as supplementary to allay the toxicity and side-effects brought by western medications.
"I am confident that traditional Chinese medicines will be embraced by the world one day. It just takes time for people from other cultures to understand it and build faith in it," said Di.
The professor suggested that China should learn from its neighbors, Japan and the ROK, to standardize the farming of herbs.
For instance, the ginseng grown in northeast China is of superb quality, but its sales in the global market is far behind Korean ginseng, because the Republic of Korea has excelled over China in standardized farming, Di said.
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