Over thousand traditional Chinese herbal medicine owners protest bill banning TCM treatment of certain conditions
Taiwan News
Date: 2016/12/08
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
More than a thousand traditional Chinese herbal medicine store owners rallied in front of the Ministry
TCM store owners protest in front of Ministry of Health and Welfare.(By Central News Agency)
of Health and Welfare building on Wednesday, Dec. 7 to protest a draft bill amendment to the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act (藥事法) that would ban them from dispensing medicine for specific ailments.
Under the proposed bill, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioners would need to pass an examination to receive a certification to be allowed to dispense Chinese medicine, and they would be required to obtain a special business license to sell such medicine at their establishments. There would also a be a ban on TCM practitioners from selling certain medicines for specific medical conditions, however it remains unclear which creams, pills, or powders would be subject to this ban.
Chu Pu-lin (朱溥霖), chairman of the National Union of Chinese Medicine Associations of the Republic of China, said that Chinese medicine has been perfected and codified over the course of thousands of years, even the slightest change in ingredients will have an effect. He then questioned the logic of the ban by saying, “how could it be possible that TCM practitioners would not already be well versed in safety measures?”2 [FULL STORY]
