China's state drug agency reported late last month that more than half the herbal or animal- and mineral-based traditional Chinese medicines on the mainland were substandard or fake, dealing yet another blow to old medical practices.
The State Drug Administration tested 1,327 samples of herbs or other raw materials used in traditional Chinese medicines that were being sold at the mainland's 17 major wholesale markets this year and found that more than half of them were either of poor quality or were completely false, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
This could have disastrous results for this ancient medical practice, which depends heavily on genuine raw ingredients and properly processing. When a doctor of traditional medicine has to concoct a prescription that can involve up to 30 types of herbs and other ingredients it requires skills to determine quantity and quality.
This comes after the equally complicated process of preparing the raw ingredients, knowing where they came from and when they were harvested. No matter how much experience the doctor has, not much can be done without the authentic materials.
The root of the large-flowered Chinese skullcap, Scutellaria baicalensis, which is important in treating bronchitis, hay fever, and hepatitis, is one example. The root needs to grow to a length of 5 inches at least before it can be harvested for use in medicines. Most of those available these days, however, are only 2 inches long as a result of rushed harvesting.
Wild licorice ban