Beijing health commission proposes banning criticism of TCM

05 Jun 2020 --- The Beijing Municipal Health Commission in China is drafting legislation to make criticism of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) illegal. This, along with other new proposals, aims to stimulate innovation while strengthening the heritage and features of TCM in Beijing. This is part of a broader move across the country to focalize the role of TCM, which has seen its use promoted for fighting COVID-19. However, many groups outside the country have warned that this could create dangers.

“The draft further improves the system of promotion and protection of TCM culture. The draft also establishes a public opinion protection system for the publicity of Chinese medicine culture and investigates public security and criminal responsibilities for defamation of Chinese medicine in any form,” reads the document entitled Notes on “Beijing Chinese Medicine Regulations (Draft for Public Comment)” (translated from Chinese).

“Overall, this is a very good movement toward the development of TCM. Over the last 60 years, TCM education has progressed, but also some problems appeared. TCM has now adopted most of the modern system to try to study and value TCM. However, the result of this is that TCM’s unique characteristics are sometimes undermined,” Zanyu Chen of the UK Federation of TCM, tells NutritionInsight. 

Comments on Beijing’s draft regulations are now open for public comment until June 28. According to the Beijing Municipal Health Commission, the regulations are guided by making full use of existing resources and the advantages of experience; establishing and improving the policy surrounding TCM; and aiding the healthy and orderly development of the city. 

The draft guidelines tackle six major aspects of Chinese medicine, totaling 55 proposed articles. The chapters are:

1. Improve the capacity building of TCM services: The government should play to the unique role TCM can have as a health resource. This is by improving the Chinese medicine health system, including the construction of regional Chinese medical centers. Other key points include maintaining the characteristics of TCM and giving full play to TCM’s role in the construction of a public health service system. 

2. Improve the management system of employees and personnel: This involves improving the record management system of TCM clinics and standardizing the management of TCM health care services.

3. Promote the innovation and development of the Chinese medicine service management system: This point involves the preparation and management of TCM decoction pieces. Additionally, a system should be established for adjusting the use of TCM preparations, as well as encouraging decoction and distribution services of TCM. 

4. Improve the construction of Chinese medicine talents: The draft strengthens the position of teacher education in the cultivation of Chinese medicine talents.

5. Improve the system of TCM cultural protection and dissemination: This is the section that proposes criminal responsibilities for defamation of Chinese medicine in any form. 

6. Improve the guarantee mechanism for the development of TCM: The draft clarifies the responsibilities of the department of TCM and establishes and improves its coordination mechanism. It also clarifies the financial support mechanism for Chinese medicine services and improves medical insurance payment methods that meet the characteristics of TCM. 

This move follows months of the Chinese government promoting the use of TCM for COVID-19.Backlash amid COVID-19
This move follows months of the Chinese government promoting the use of TCM for COVID-19, as detailed in a Nature article. By March, TCM remedies constituted some of China’s health ministry’s recommended treatments for COVID-19 and included pills, powders, injectable therapies and recipes to make decoctions. NutritionInsight has also previously reported about studies examining the use of Qing Fei Pai Du Tang, a formula of TCM herbal medicines, for COVID-19. 

However, the Nature article details that there are no rigorous trial data to demonstrate that the remedies work. “We are dealing with a serious infection that requires effective treatments. For TCM, there is no good evidence, and therefore its use is not just unjustified, but dangerous,” says Edzard Ernst, a UK-based retired researcher into complementary medicines.

Additionally, several of the decoctions recommended by the Chinese government include ephedra, a herb that contains the stimulant pseudoephedrine. Extracts of the herb containing this substance have been banned in the US and several European countries after a string of deaths in the 1990s and 2000s among those who used it for dieting or energy enhancement. 

By Katherine Durrell