The traditional Chinese herbal medicine will be developed free of pollution in future, according to the recently concluded Tongrentang Medicine Modernization Seminar.

Currently, Tongrentang has established seven large herbal medicine-planting bases aimed at solving such problems as pesticide residue, heavy metal traces exceeding the set standard and illegal culling or digging up of natural resources.

The seven bases are: north China's Jilin Province producing ginseng; Hebei Province producing root of membranous milk vetch, Chinese thorowax, Radix Isatidis, Schizonepeta tenuifolia, bitter almond, and Violo philippica; Shanxi Province producing codonopsis pilosola, central China's Hubei Province producing Poris cocos; Henan Province producing Cornus officinalis; east China's Zhejiang Province producing Paeonia lactiflora; and Anhui Province planting varieties of medicines.

The seven bases will be built far from residential and industrial areas, according to the leaders in charge of Tongrentang medicine production. During the process of planting, the use of pesticides will be strictly controlled to guarantee the quality of Tongrentang medicine for export.

With the improvement of public awareness of environmental protection, the number of animal-related medicines is falling, such as tiger bone and musk. China has banned the use of the two materials in medicine manufacturing. Tongrentang revealed that it would establish a deer-raising base in Changping, in suburban Beijing. Experts said that the success in raising musk, one of the deer family, will guarantee the production of traditional Chinese herbal production.

Tongrentang was founded in 1669 and appointed to be a pharmacy for royal kinsmen in the Qing Dynasty in 1861. It has been famous for its long history of more than 300 years and its distinctive method of pharmacy -- unique composition, high quality, good workmanship, and remarkable curative effort -- both at home and abroad.

(china.org.cn by Li Jingrong, August 30, 2002)