Globalization of traditional herbal medicines“1st International Symposium on Kampo Medicine”

Traditional medicines have developed independently in every region and are currently used under the regulation of each country based on the historical and cultural background. If attempts are made to spread these traditional medicines to other countries with different histories, cultures, and regulations, various problems may occur. The following presentations show how the globalization of traditional medicines is considered in Europe, China, Japan, and Korea. Needless to say, traditional medicines are medicines, and it is important to ensure their efficacy and safety for any person. Although the globalization of traditional medicines has various problems at present, I hope that they can be made available globally in an appropriate manner, and they will benefit people of the world. The first presentation is “Role of Traditional Herbal Medicine for Healthcare in Germany and Europe.” The use of herbal medicine (HM) as part of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) has increased significantly in recent decades. This presentation will provide insights into the role of HM in Germany and the European Union (EU) in terms of regulations, usage and safety, as well as its role in the health care system. The organization and regulation of health care in the EU is the responsibility of the member states. Until now there is no common approach to regulate CAM practice. This leads to a variety of regional, national and EU legal regulations. CAM treatment is in most EU member states not covered by the public health insurance and patients must bear the cost of treatment themselves. Regardless of these hurdles, the usage of HM is common and widespread in the EU population with high prevalence rates, which shows that it plays an important role in public health care. For the safe and effective use of HM, it is urgently necessary to create uniform and transparent standards for the training of physicians and practitioners, and to make the results of research concerning the efficacy and safety of HM easily accessible to therapists and patients to increase trust in HM. The second presentation is entitled “Progress and Status of International Standardization of Traditional Chinese Medicine in China.” International standardization plays an important role in supporting the modernization and internationalization of traditional Chinese medicine. China actively participates in the international standardization of traditional Chinese medicine. In the 1980s, China drafted and formulated the international standard for “Meridian Names” through the World Health Organization. International organizations of traditional Chinese medicine such as the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies and the World Federation of Acupuncture and Moxibustion Societies have also issued international organization standards for traditional Chinese medicine. In 2019, traditional medicine such as traditional Chinese medicine was included in the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) for the first time. More importantly, the International Organization for Standardization/ Technical Committee of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ISO/TC249) provides a new and broader platform for the development of international standardization of traditional Chinese medicine. At present, various channels for the international standardization of traditional Chinese medicine have been opened, creating conditions for accelerating the globalization of traditional Chinese medicine and providing new opportunities. The international standardization of traditional Chinese medicine condenses the wisdom of global experts and provides guarantees for the health services of people around the world. The title of the third presentation is “International Standardization of Medicinal Plants and Kampo Products in Japan.” In Japan, the domestic production of raw materials for Kampo medicine is being enthusiastically promoted. However, we still depend for about 90% of the raw materials on imports, mainly from China. Under these conditions, the international standards (ISs) that regulate the quality of Kampo medicines and crude drugs and their materials traded internationally, play an extremely important role in ensuring the quality and safety of these products. In the field of herbal medicines and crude drugs, ISs are developed in a technical committee (TC) of ISO, called TC249: Traditional Chinese Medicine, mainly under two working groups: WG1 (standardization of crude drugs and traditional processing methods) and WG2 (standardization of TCM products). The basic stance of Japan in this TC is to develop and/or to contribute to developing the ISs, using Japanese Pharmacopeia and various high-quality quality control (QC) standards in Received: 29 May 2022 Revised: 6 June 2022 Accepted: 7 June 2022