New Shanghai institution to promote standardization of TCM

A new institution was launched at the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine on Monday to promote the standardization of traditional Chinese medicine and deepen cooperation with the rest of the world to enhance health of human beings.

The plaque of the Shanghai Academy of International Standardization for Traditional Chinese Medicine was unveiled during the opening ceremony of the 13th plenary meeting of the ISO TCM technical committee, which will run through Friday at the university.

Built with joint efforts from the ISO/TC 249 (the International Organization for Standardization technical committee for TCM), the World Health Organization and the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies, the academy will make a greater contribution to international standardization work, according to Shen Yuandong, chair of ISO/TC 249.

"We will strengthen cooperation with traditional medicine practitioners and stakeholders around the world to make new contributions to promote human health and economic development," Shen said.

Established in 2009 and now boasting 45 members bodies, the ISO/TC 249 has published 95 ISO standards for TCM, ranging from standards for selection, processing, testing and storage for Chinese medicine materials to norms for producing, storage and disinfection of TCM apparatus and instruments. It's working on another 31 standards.

The plenary meeting gathers 275 representatives from the ISO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, and its member countries such as Japan, South Korea, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada and Spain, as well as the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies, the World Federation of Acupuncture-Moxibustion Societies and the ISO/TC 314 (the ISO technical committee for ageing societies).

It received 16 new proposals for TCM international standards, including TCM materials, manufactured Chinese medicine, acupuncture needles, TCM apparatus and instruments, as well as TCM terminology, which will be discussed in eight meetings over the following four days.