China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) has published reference standards on safety and quality for 299 commonly used Chinese materia medica, or Chinese traditional medicines, the SAR government's health department said on Wednesday.
To guarantee the safety and quality of Chinese materia medica in the market and enhance Hong Kong's position as an international trading center for Chinese medicines, the SAR government's Department of Health launched in 2002 a scheme called Hong Kong Chinese Materia Medica Standards (HKCMMS).
The scheme established an international advisory board, inviting experts from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong SAR and overseas to help set up reference standards for the industry.
At the international advisory board's 11th meeting held from Monday to Wednesday, the Hong Kong SAR government's Director of Health Constance Chan said, "With the publication of the ninth volume of the HKCMMS, we have already published a total of 299 Chinese materia medica reference standards, which are well recognized in the field of Chinese medicine testing and certification."
The meeting, attended by over 70 experts from different countries and regions, reviewed the research work of the current phase for 31 Chinese materia medica and concluded a pilot study on eight Chinese medicine decoction pieces.
It also discussed the future research direction of the HKCMMS project.
"While we continue to further our work on the standard setting for Chinese materia medica, we will introduce advance testing methods to improve the quality control of Chinese materia medica and strive to be on par with international standards," Chan said.
To guarantee the safety and quality of Chinese materia medica in the market and enhance Hong Kong's position as an international trading center for Chinese medicines, the SAR government's Department of Health launched in 2002 a scheme called Hong Kong Chinese Materia Medica Standards (HKCMMS).
The scheme established an international advisory board, inviting experts from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong SAR and overseas to help set up reference standards for the industry.
At the international advisory board's 11th meeting held from Monday to Wednesday, the Hong Kong SAR government's Director of Health Constance Chan said, "With the publication of the ninth volume of the HKCMMS, we have already published a total of 299 Chinese materia medica reference standards, which are well recognized in the field of Chinese medicine testing and certification."
The meeting, attended by over 70 experts from different countries and regions, reviewed the research work of the current phase for 31 Chinese materia medica and concluded a pilot study on eight Chinese medicine decoction pieces.
It also discussed the future research direction of the HKCMMS project.
"While we continue to further our work on the standard setting for Chinese materia medica, we will introduce advance testing methods to improve the quality control of Chinese materia medica and strive to be on par with international standards," Chan said.
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