The World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies (WFCMS), founded yesterday in Beijing, will establish and publish an international standard for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

The lack of a globally-accepted international standard has long been a headache for TCM, said Li Zhenji, vice-director of State Administration of TCM.

The top priority in the WFCMS constitution is to establish such an international standard and push forward development of TCM in other countries and regions, Li said at the organization's founding conference.

Headquartered in Beijing, the WFCMS will have legal status for setting and spreading the international standards of TCM, said Li Zhonghai, director of Standardization Administration of China.

Currently, TCM is not legally recognized by most of international community, partially due to the shortage of an international standard and the lack of understanding of the TCM, said Li.

Other objectives of the organization are to promote understanding and co-operation for TCM among the academic sector, to strengthen international academic exchanges, and improve the level of TCM according to the constitution of the WFCMS.

The organization will also assist Chinese medicine in getting access to the mainstream medical community to make contributions to healthcare.

About 150 representatives from 118 TCM academic communities and organizations from 43 countries and regions are attending the conference. A chairperson and other members of the WFCMS executive council will be elected today.

TCM has spread to many countries, including Britain, where more than 3,000 TCM clinics have opened in recent years.

During last spring's outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), more than 50 per cent of the SARS patients in China received TCM treatment, said She Jing, director of the State Administration of TCM.

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