Traditional Chinese medicine could become a global leader in
medical treatment, a top science official said yesterday.
"Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), with its peculiar way of
observing life and disease, has the greatest potential for original
innovations among all the other academic disciplines in the
country," Liu Yanhua, vice-minister of science and technology,
said.
Liu made the comments at a ceremony marking the launch of a new
report on TCM's potential to prevent and treat major infectious and
chronic diseases.
The document, Outline for Innovative Development of TCM
was co-published by 16 central government ministries and other
official bodies.
TCM and forthcoming breakthroughs in life science are expected
to be "one of the points of penetration for China's scientific
research into the world."
Investment, innovation
To encourage more innovation, China will invest more money in
the area and encourage international cooperation in the TCM
research field.
And to give TCM a better footing on the world market, "a system
of standards" would be established for medical treatments, medicine
production, teaching, scientific research and market entry.
Such a system of standards would help boost TCM's "recognition
and understanding" throughout the world, Yu Wenming, deputy
director of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese
Medicine, said.
That system was expected to be the same as that applied to the
world's traditional medicines.
More monitoring efforts will also be made on the side effects of
TCM, according to the outline.
The State Food and Drug Administration received 369,000 reports
of adverse drug reactions last year, of which TCM accounted for 15
percent, Wu Zhen, deputy director of the administration, said.
(China Daily March 22, 2007)