East meets West over great medicine divide

Chinese and United States doctors say traditional Chinese medicines are in the West to stay but more research using Western science is needed to win over a sceptical medical Establishment.

"Herbal medicines have worked for a thousand years and on trillions and trillions of people. But what we need is proof," said Cao Zeyi, vice-president of the Chinese Medical Association.

He was at a week-long gathering claimed by organisers as the largest and highest-level exchange between Chinese doctors and their US colleagues in more than 50 years.

Delegates said they must redouble efforts to apply a Western scientific approach to prove that traditional Chinese medicines and therapies worked. It was even more important now, when alternative medicines were gaining worldwide popularity.

"If we can show clinical results I think my colleagues will open up to the possibility [that they work]," said Dr David Eisenberg, head of Harvard Medical School's research on complementary therapies.

"This is a global phenomenon. Herbs and supplements are here to stay," Dr Eisenberg said.

Citing research from the Berlin-based PhytoPharm consulting group that valued the worldwide supplements market at $US46 billion ($112.93 billion) in 1999, he urged the more than 1000 delegates to establish an international network to share research and develop standards.

Traditional Chinese medicines encompass everything from curative herbal teas and supplements to acupuncture and massage therapy.

Philip Fontanarosa, deputy editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association, said that convincing scientific evidence was still lacking despite the public's "seemingly unbridled enthusiasm."

Western doctors have expressed concerns about the toxicity levels found in some herbal remedies and reports of dangerous interactions with prescription drugs.

This year, the National Institute of Health said it was spending $US89 million on research into complementary and alternative medicine.

- REUTERS