http://www.lfl.bayern.de/ipz/heilpflanzen/085708/index.php
Controlled cultivation – reliable therapy
Chinese medicinal plants from Bavaria
The work was based on the confirmation of the botanical identity, as well as on the development of suitable cultivation and processing standards. The yield and constituent contents of some species are improved by plant breeding. In a number of pharmaceutic studies and therapeutic observations the quality and efficacy of the herbal remedies was analyzed.
Consequently, in 2005 this interdisciplinary
research led to the field cultivation of several Chinese medicinal plant
species and to high quality materia medica from Bavaria. The certified
herbal remedies are distributed via retailers and pharmacies.
The
research work in the field, lab and medicinal practice is conducted by
the Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture (LfL; project
leader), the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, the Universität
Graz, the companies PhytoLab GmbH & Co. KG and Kräuter Mix GmbH, as
well as the medical associations DECA (Association for the Documentation
of Empirical Knowledge of Chinese Herbal Therapy DECA GmbH) and SMS
(International Society of Chinese Medicine). Meanwhile after 16 years of
research, the interdisciplinary consortium with its networking in the
international context of TCM has developed a unique expertise covering
all fields from botany through cultivation and processing to the
patient.
This knowledge will be focused and further developed in the Center of Competence for Chinese Medicinal Plants.
Interconnected research
Advantages of locally grown TCM herbs
TCM herbs produced in Germany have the great
advantage of being grown in a controlled and completely documented
cultivation according to the GAP guidelines and restrictive European
legislation. Pesticides are not permitted for use in the production of
TCM herbs in Germany. In fact, some of the herb growers are even
certified organic farmers. Thus, patients can be treated safely with
this materia medica. Quality assurance and standardization are the
strengths of the herbal remedies produced in Germany. They meet the
official requirements of the German and European pharmacopoeia. As a
result, the use of locally produced TCM herbs has been recommended by
renowned TCM doctors.
