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Asian medicine: Call for more safety data

Nature volume 482, page 35 (2012)Cite this article

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Marketing of traditional Chinese medicines is developing rapidly worldwide (Nature 480, S81–S103; 2011). So much so that the European Union (EU) issued a directive in 2004 that all herbal preparations should be subject to the same screening procedures as pharmaceuticals by 2011. But by April last year, no Chinese herbal medicines had met the directive's requirements. Many have therefore been withheld from sale in the EU.

If these traditional remedies are to be accepted, their quality needs to be standardized and rigorous scientific data must be supplied on their efficacy and safety. The mystique surrounding such treatments must give way to verification and a proper understanding of concepts and applications. Only then can traditional Chinese medicine be integrated into a global health-care system.

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  1. Shanghai Clinical Research Center, Shanghai, China

    Juncai Xu & Min Liu

  2. Shanghai Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, China

    Zhijie Xia

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  1. Juncai Xu
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  2. Min Liu
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  3. Zhijie Xia
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Correspondence to Zhijie Xia.

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Xu, J., Liu, M. & Xia, Z. Asian medicine: Call for more safety data. Nature 482, 35 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/482035d

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