Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is getting a new lease on
life with plans to conduct research on its ancient empirical
methods and establish international standards. Laying the
groundwork, a strategy for the next 15 years was jointly published
by 16 central government departments last week.
The government program is of particular importance in light of
the heated debate on the future of TCM touched off by an online
petition to remove TCM from the national public health system.
Traditional Chinese medicine has its own theory and methodology
based on the accumulation of 2,000 years of experience. The
storehouse of thousands of remedies is based on prescribing
mixtures of medicinal herbs based on patients' case histories.
Its empirical diagnostic approach - taking the pulse, examining
the tongue, analyzing the smell of a patient - has been denigrated
as unscientific.
These accusations have led to breakthroughs updating the ancient
practice. If TCM remains at the empirical stage, it can hardly
compete with the constant updating in diagnostic and treatment
techniques of its Western counterparts.
The government's new strategic program will increase input in
sorting out ancient TCM classic medications and various therapies
used by individual practitioners, who continue the practices of
their predecessors. A bank of medicinal herbs will be established,
along with a bank of chemical samples of herbal medicines.
A set of standards that can be accepted internationally will be
established and the translation of TCM terminology will be
standardized.
Even more important, the program will focus on developing some
new TCM medicines to promote health.
This could offer bright prospects for the future of TCM, which
has a reputation for effective treatment of some chronic
diseases.
By applying modern biochemical technology to the research and
production of traditional herbal medicines, the useful herbal
elements can be refined and the mixing of ingredients from
different herbs standardized. As a result, herbal remedies may
become more effective, with fewer side effects.
If research can find the connection between the empirical
diagnosis approach of TCM and the causes of disease, it will lead
to breakthroughs in the discipline.
(China Daily March 26, 2007)