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Updated Sunday, February 22, 2009 5:20 am TWN, CNA

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Taiwanese standards for Chinese medicine seen as model for UK

TAIPEI -- Taiwan can serve as a role model for the United Kingdom and play an important role in lifting the profile of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the Western world, as it has a high standard of TCM education and advanced production technology, a group of experts from the UK said yesterday.

Tony Booker, president of the UK Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine, said that he was amazed by the high level of quality control in the production of TCM and the expertise of TCM practitioners in Taiwan.

He was part of a 13-member group of TCM practitioners, leading research scientists and experts from the UK and Ireland, who were in Taiwan to observe and study its practice of Chinese medicine.

During their stay Feb. 16-21, the group visited the Department of Health's Committee on Chinese Medicine and Pharmacy, China Medical University, Taipei Chinese Medical Association, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Sun Ten Pharmaceutical Company.

“I'm particularly impressed with the care and attention Taiwanese take in the production and the quality of Chinese medicine, putting an enormous amount of investment into quality assurance, which is very good,” Booker said.

“That's something we really need to try and copy in the UK,” he added.

Brooker, a member of the advisory board for the British government's Herbal Medicine Regulation Working Group (HMRWG), said Taiwan's regulations on Chinese medicine can also serve as reference for the UK and that he will report to Westminster about this.

In recent years, Western nations have been gradually becoming more open-minded about traditional medicines and TCM has been receiving great attention worldwide. However, despite the growing popularity, there are no statutory regulations on herbal medicine, acupuncture and TCM practitioners in the UK, and herbal medicine was identified as posing risk to public health due to poor practice.

For this reason, the committees of HMRWG and the Acupuncture Regulation Working Group (ARWG) were set up in 2002 by the British Department of Health to coordinate some 15,000 UK herbal practitioners of all traditions and to consider how regulation of acupuncture and herbal medicine could best be achieved.

Brooker said that in addition to Taiwan's high standard of education in scientific Chinese medicine, its regulations in the discipline can also serve as a good model for the UK.

There are some areas, such as student exchanges and training programs, in which Taiwan and the UK can work together for mutual benefit, he added.

Noting that he has been working on some exchange programs with local universities and hospitals, Cheng Ming-zhao, a member of the HMRWG and the head of Middlesex University's Chinese Medicine Program, told the CNA that Taiwan's standard of education and quality control in TCM are advantages that can be used to raise the profile of TCM internationally.

“Taiwan can play an important role in the globalization of Chinese medicine,” Cheng said, adding that instead of having just bilateral collaboration between Taiwan and the UK, Taiwan, China and Europe can all work together to achieve this goal.

Michael Heinrich, head of the Centre for Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy at London School of Pharmacy, said that Taiwan has great potential in terms of Chinese medicine research and it will benefit from stronger international collaboration.

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