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Letters to the Editor
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Traditional Chinese medicine
Greater expertise in TCM needed worldwide
From Mr D. R. Williams, MRPharmS
I read with great interest, the article by Peter Houghton (PJ, 24 July,
p125), concerning the joint meeting at Kew Gardens on 12 June this year,
particularly since I was there.
It is not only the UK which needs greater expertise in traditional Chinese
medicine but the rest of the world and, indeed, China itself. Practically
all of these products are not manufactured to international standards
in any respect. Evidence presented at the meeting by Mary Samuel of the
University of Bradford, who practised with TCM in the UK for a number
of years, indicated that many of the products available are spurious.
I and my company have specialised in so-called “alternative medicines” for
many years and I have heard some real horror stories. I have also visited
China on several occasions during the past 20 years and, apart from those
manufacturers who have joint ventures with western companies, companies
have little or no concept of international standards of good manufacturing
practice, good laboratory practice or good clinical practice, etc.
In my professional opinion, as a pharmacist who has worked in the international
pharmaceutical industry for the past 40 years, the availability of TCMs
in the western world will, at some time in the future, pose serious problems.
David R. Williams
Loughborough,
Leicestershire
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal