The European Union ban of hundreds of traditional Chinese herbal medicines went into effect May 1. The debate is raging whether this ban was a decision based on financial and competitive concerns (to protect western medicine market, as some Chinese are alleging), or whether it is truly out of concern for patient safety.
But in my view, this is merely the tip of a much bigger iceberg, one that few people dare to confront - is traditional Chinese medicine a viable alternative to the conventional medicine, or is it just snake oil like many of its equivalents in other countries?
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has a very long history, going all the way back to about 400 BC, when a legendary doctor Bian Que (扁鹊) was said to have invented many of the diagnostic methods used in TCM, in particular pulse diagnosis (脉诊), whereby the doctor feels the pulse of the patient on the wrist, and from the pattern of the pulse deduces the possible ailment. The parts of TCM that we are most familiar with, are acupuncture and herbal medicines.
Some studies have shown that acupuncture can be effective for relieving certain types of pains. However, if you combine different studies, the results are at best mixed. Recently doctors have found that simulated acupuncture, i.e., using fake needles and/or random acupuncture points instead of the precise acupoints, works just as well as the real acupuncture, although both work better than no acupuncture at all.
The picture with the herbal medicines is decidedly negative. There have been numerous reports of patient dying from taking herbal medicines. To TCM practitioners, these were more reasons that herbal medicines should not be regulated as dietary supplements as they are in the US, but rather as medicines. But they are wrong.
The reason that the herbal medicines are not regulated as medicines, is because there has not been any evidence that they are effective. In fact, not a single herbal medicine has passed clinical trials and approved by the FDA. In order to sell these herbal medicines without such approval, they have to be categorized as "dietary supplements." But TCM practitioners want to have a double standard here. They don't want to subject their drugs to the same rigorous testing "western" drugs have to go through, but at the same time they want to enjoy the kind of privilege and recognition only FDA approval can bring.
And dietary supplements they are not. Most herbal medicines have unknown toxicities. Some contain heavy metals such lead and mercury that will cause long term poisoning. Others can cause acute allergic reactions that can kill in hours. There have also been documented cases of herbal medicines causing acute renal failure and liver disease.
A famous celebrity case involving TCM was that of actress and business celebrity Chen Xiaoxu, who died of breast cancer at age 41. She was a strong believer of TCM so when her cancer was discovered, she did not seek conventional treatment. Instead she treated with TCM and spiritually, converting to Buddhism and becoming a Buddhist nun. None of that helped, and she passed away in 2007. When a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences criticized TCM for causing Chen's unnecessary death, a Chinese government official came out defending TCM. What did a government official know about TCM that a scientist didn't know?
Until Chinese herbal medicines are proven safe and effective through clinical trials, people should stay away from them.