亚洲传统草药业渐成气候(中英文对照)
 |
 |
作者：Kevin Voigt 来源：Wall Street Journal [美]《华尔街日报》报道
摘要: 消费者目前对依托亚洲传统药物而开发的产品和服务兴趣日渐浓厚。美国的雅诗兰黛和可口可乐等消费品公司以及资生堂等日本化妆品公司的研究人员正越来越多地从民间药物中寻找开发日用品和保健品的灵感。在中国以外的其他地区，传统中药的从业人员也在增加，使用和相信中医药等替代疗法的西方人也在不断增多。
关键词: Herbal Industry Traidtional Chinese Medicine acupuncture alternative medicine
After two unsuccessful attempts to have a child through in vitro fertilization, Melbourne resident Michelle Harrison was willing to try anything. So while getting fertility treatments at Melbourne IVF clinic, she also visited the Melbourne Holistic Health Group for a course of acupuncture. The results were two-fold: the birth in January of Caitlin Aleisha Harrison and, unexpectedly, newfound relief from her annual allergy attacks.
, http://www.100md.com
在两次试图通过试管婴儿胚胎植入术受孕均告失败后，墨尔本的居民米歇尔·哈里森什么其他方法都想试试。所以她一面在墨尔本试管婴儿胚胎植入诊所继续尝试人工受孕，一面又到墨尔本的Holistic Health Group接受了一个疗程的针灸治疗。其结果是双喜临门：她不仅在今年1月生下了女儿凯特琳·艾丽莎·哈里森，出乎意料的是，她每年都要出现的过敏反应也找到了对症治疗的新方法。
www.gmharrison.info
Caitlin Aleisha Harrison's Photo of daily life
"The hay fever treatment was fantastic," the 35-year-old mother says of the acupuncture therapy. "For the first time in my life, I went through a whole hay fever season without any drugs."
, http://www.100md.com
这位35岁的母亲谈到她接受的针灸治疗时说：“这种治疗花粉热的方法真神奇。我平生第一次没有吃药就平安度过了整个花粉热季节。”
Helping make babies and cutting down on Kleenex costs are two small parts of the growing consumer appetite for products and services derived from ancient Asian medicines. Researchers from consumer-products companies such as Estée Lauder Cos. and Coca-Cola Co. of the U.S., and Japanese cosmetics maker Shiseido Co. are increasingly mining folk medicine to create modern products and treatments.
, http://www.100md.com
成功怀孕和减少面巾纸花费只是一种消费新潮流激起的两朵小浪花而已，消费者目前对依托亚洲传统药物而开发的产品和服务兴趣日渐浓厚。美国的雅诗兰黛和可口可乐等消费品公司以及资生堂等日本化妆品公司的研究人员正越来越多地从民间药物中寻找开发日用品和保健品的灵感。
"The reality is existing Western medicine can't meet current medical needs," says Edmund Lee, executive director of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Institute of Chinese Medicine, which was set up in 2001 and has a $64 million endowment for research into traditional treatments.
*****中药研究所的执行董事埃德蒙德·李说：“现实情况是现有的西药无法满足当前的医疗需要。”这家研究所成立于2001年，它有一笔6,400万美元的捐款用于传统医药的研究。
, http://www.100md.com
Often termed "complementary" or "alternative" medicine in the West, disciplines ranging from Ayurveda in India to traditional Chinese medicine are finding more fans outside Asia. According to data from the alternative medicine division of the National Institutes of Health in the U.S., a 2004 survey showed that more than a third of American adults above the age of 18 use some form of alternative medicine including herbal remedies, acupuncture and meditation. The World Health Organization says that a 2003 survey showed that 75% of people with HIV/AIDS in London and San Francisco were using traditional medicines to augment their standard treatment.
, 百拇医药
印度的古老医药阿育吠陀和中国的传统中药等在西方经常被称做“补充性”或“替代性”药物，但它们现在在亚洲以外正拥有越来越多的喜好者。美国国立卫生研究院替代药物部提供的数据显示，一项2004年进行的调查发现，超过三分之一的美国18岁以上成年人尝试过草药、针灸和静坐等替代性医药。世界卫生组织称，一项2003年进行的调查显示，伦敦和旧金山75%的艾滋病毒感染者都使用传统药物来增强其标准化治疗的疗效。
According to figures compiled by the WHO, global sales of herbal remedies totaled more than $21 billion in 2004, the latest year for which data are available. As the number of users of traditional medicines has increased, so have world-wide efforts to regulate their sale. The WHO says that in 1988 only 14 of its member nations regulated the sale of herbal medicines. By 2003, that figure had climbed to 53 countries, with another 42 in the process of developing regulations.
, http://www.100md.com
世界卫生组织提供的数据显示，全球2004年的草药销售总额超过了210亿美元。由于服用传统药物的人数不断增长，世界各国纷纷采取措施规范这类药物的销售。世界卫生组织说，1988年该组织只有14个成员国对草药的销售活动进行了规范。而到2003年，已经增加到了53个国家，另有42个国家正在制定规范措施。
Governments, meantime, also are trying to capitalize on growing popularity of indigenous treatments. Last year, for instance, the Vietnamese government opened the Traditional Medicine and Pharmacy Institute in Ha Tay province. It has started with 100 students and intends to enroll more than 300 next year. The institute plans to study both traditional and Western medicines, and promote medical research into traditional Vietnamese medicine with the aim of encouraging its wider use.
, http://www.100md.com
此外，各国政府也试图对传统医药的日渐流行加以利用。例如，越南政府去年就在河西省设立了传统药物研究所。创办伊始招收了100名学生，明年准备扩招到300人以上。该研究所计划既研究传统药物也研究西药，推动对越南传统药物的医学研究，以扩大这类药物的使用。
In Malaysia, Borneo Plant Technology Sdn. Bhd. is working with the government-run Forestry Research Institute of Malaysia to develop health supplements based on the medicine of the Iban tribe in Sarawak.
在马来西亚，Borneo Plant Technology Sdn. Bhd.这家企业正与国营的马来西亚森林研究所合作，以沙劳越Iban部落的传统药物为基础开发保健品。
, 百拇医药
"This indigenous medicine has been around for years, but no one has really tested it," says Borneo Plant's Chief Executive Officer Graeme Brown. His company is developing three products derived from Iban remedies that purport to lower blood pressure, eliminate kidney stones, and "a local medicine that they say is the equivalent of Viagra for women," Mr. Brown says.
Borneo Plant首席执行长格雷姆·布朗说：“这些传统药物已经流传很多年了，但还没人真正检测过它们。”他的公司正以传统药物为基础开发3种产品，一种据称可以降低血压，另一种消除肾结石，还有一种布朗称做“相当于女用伟哥的药物。”这些都来自Iban部落的传统疗法。
, 百拇医药
Healthcare professionals aren't the only ones digging into Asia's traditional medicine cabinet. Shiseido set up a research and development center in Beijing in 2002, and expanded those operations last November. In Japan in 2004, the company began marketing a line of 24 cosmetics and food supplements made from Chinese medicine called "Sinoadore," promoting it as "fusion of traditional Chinese medicine and Western science."
并非只有医疗行业在挖掘亚洲的传统药物宝库。资生堂2002年在北京建立了一个研发中心，并在去年11月扩建。该公司2004年在日本市场推出了包括24种化妆品和保健食品在内的系列产品，这些以中药为基础开发的产品被称做“中国风”，资生堂宣传说这一系列产品“融合了传统中药和西方科学”。
, 百拇医药
Says Hiroko Ozeki, a spokeswoman for Shiseido, "the major part of ingredients (in the line) are from Chinese plant extracts" such as tea oil, Chinese angelica and safflower that address various skin conditions based on qi, the flow of energy in the body.
该公司发言人Hiroko Ozeki说，这一系列产品的主要成分是从茶、当归和红花等中国植物中提取的，这些植物都能治疗因气行不畅引起的各种皮肤不适。
New York-based Estée Lauder opened its own research center in Shanghai last November, and has released a number of products world-wide that derive some of their ingredients from Chinese medicine, such as reishi mushroom in its "Origins Plantidote Mega-Mushroom Face Serum." Its "Re-nutriv Ultimate Lifting Serum" contains the root of astragalus, used as an anti-irritant, and berry extract from ligstrum, an herb traditionally used to treat fever and back pain that the company says is effective in preventing the degradation of the skin's elastin and the formation of wrinkles.
, http://www.100md.com
雅诗兰黛去年11月在上海开设了自己的研究中心，目前已经在全球推出了许多含有中药成分的产品。例如，其产品Origins Plantidote Mega-Mushroom精华露就含有日本灵芝的成分，另一产品“双重滋养白金级紧肤精华液”则含有黄芪以及女贞果萃取成分。黄芪抗过敏，而女贞传统上则被用来治疗发热和背痛。雅诗兰黛说，女贞可以有效防止皮肤中弹性蛋白的退化以及皱纹的形成。
Estée Lauder
Estée Lauder® Origins Plantidote Mega-Mushroom® Series
"We look at what are the elements that are active in Chinese herbs that make them so potent," says Harvey Gedeon, executive vice president of research and development for Estée Lauder. "For example, the polyphenols we extract from white tea in China which we use in our Perfect World Night Mask have tremendous antioxidant power," he maintains.
, http://www.100md.com
该公司负责研发的执行副总裁哈维·戈登说：“我们要找到那些效果显著的中药成分，例如，我们的产品Perfect World夜间面膜中含有从中国白茶中提取的多酚，这种成分具有强大的抗氧化能力。”
Beverage giant Coca-Cola also is investing in Chinese medicine. In December, the company signed a 15-year deal with the China Academy of Chinese Medical Science to research health drinks. It also purchased last year the international distribution rights for the Hong Kong-based HealthWorks' line of ready-to-drink beverages, made from traditional Chinese herbs such as chrysanthemum flowers and myrobalan, a prune-like fruit rich in antioxidants. And last week it rolled out two health drinks in China that are derived from traditional Chinese medicines.
, 百拇医药
饮料业巨头可口可乐公司也在中药资源开发方面进行投资。去年12月，该公司与中国中医研究院签署了一份研究开发健康饮料的15年协议。该公司去年还买下了香港公司HealthWorks开发的系列即饮饮料的国际分销权，这些饮料中含有菊花、油甘子等传统中草药成分，油甘子是一种富含抗硬化成分的果实。上周，可口可乐公司在中国推出了两种健康饮料，它们都含有传统中药成分。
"In China, there is a more arbitrary separation between food and medicine," says Zhang Huaying, Asia director at the Beverage Institute for Health and Wellness, a wholly owned division of Coca-Cola. "If you're using an ingredient to fight a bug, it's a medicine; if you're using it for your meal, it's food."
, 百拇医药
可口可乐公司下属研究机构健康饮料研究院的亚洲负责人张华英(音)说：“在中国，食品和药品的区分更主观。如果你使用一种成分来治病，它就是药品；如果你用来吃，它就是食品。”
The number of traditional Chinese medicine practioners outside China is also on the increase. Take Virginia Scarff, the Melbourne herbalist and acupuncturist who treated Ms. Harrison during her fertility treatments and pregnancy. Ms. Scarff is one of 500 graduates of RMIT University's Chinese medicine school in Victoria state.
在中国以外的其他地区，传统中药的从业人员也在增加。以弗吉尼亚·斯卡夫为例，正是这位在墨尔本开业的草药师兼针灸师在米歇尔·哈里森尝试人工受孕和怀孕期间对她进行治疗的。斯卡夫是维多利亚州墨尔本皇家理工大学中药学院的500名毕业生之一。
, http://www.100md.com
The school began in 1995 with a two-year program that attracted mainly Asian students, says program director Charles Xue. Now the school -- named last year as a WHO Collaborating Centre for Traditional Medicine -- offers degree programs of up to five years, and most graduates are Westerners like Ms. Scarff. Previously trained as a medical laboratory scientist, Ms. Scarff was attracted to Chinese medicine "because it makes the patient the focus ... it's individualistic treatment, so you have to spend a lot of time getting to know your patient," she says. "And as a scientist, it's fascinating because as a new (discipline) in the West there are constantly new studies and new information coming out."
, 百拇医药
该学院1995年成立时是一所两年制学院，主要面向亚洲学生。现在，这家学院提供学制最长达五年的学位教育，它的大多数毕业生都是像斯卡夫一样的西方人。该学院去年获得了“世界卫生组织传统医药合作中心”的称号。斯卡夫最初的职业方向是医学实验科学家，但她却被中药吸引住了。她解释说，中药“以病人为本……它因人而异实施治疗，所以你必须花很多时间了解你的病人。作为一名科学工作者，这是令人著迷的，因为作为一门在西方的新学科，这儿不断有新的研究成果和新的信息涌现。”
Lyndon Hale, chairman of Melbourne IVF, says that over the past five years, he's seen "quite a lot of people interested" in trying acupuncture to increase their chances of having an IVF baby. The clinic doesn't have an acupuncturist on staff, but refers its patients to providers. Dr. Hale says there could be several reasons why acupuncture may work. "It could reduce stress, which would have a positive impact," he notes. And it "could be the endocrinology of it, how it impacts neuropathways back to pituitary glands and endocrine control centers of the brain," he says.
, 百拇医药
Melbourne IVF的董事长林登·黑尔说，过去5年中，他看到许多人都有兴趣尝试通过针灸来增加怀上试管婴儿的机会。虽然Melbourne IVF没有针灸医生，但它会介绍自己的病人去其他地方接受针灸治疗。黑尔说针灸治疗能够见效的原因或许是它能缓解压力，而这会对患者产生积极影响；还有可能是针灸的内分泌学机理，针灸可能会对通向脑垂体和内分泌控制中枢的神经产生影响。
According to a study published in May by the University of Adelaide in Australia involving 1,000 women undergoing IVF, those who received acupuncture were twice as likely to give birth as those who were given a placebo needle treatment. Rob Norman, who helped coordinate the study, says researchers don't know why it seems to work. What is clear, he says, is acupuncture "isn't harmful and there is certainly strong evidence to suggest it's quite helpful."
, 百拇医药
澳大利亚阿德莱德大学今年5月发表了一份以1,000名正接受试管婴儿胚胎植入术治疗的妇女为研究对象的报告，发现其中接受针灸治疗的妇女的受孕几率要比仅接受安慰式针灸治疗的妇女高一倍。帮助协调这项研究的罗勃·诺曼说，研究人员不知道为什么针灸治疗看来确有疗效，人们清楚的是，针灸“无害而且确实有强有力的证据表明它是十分有帮助的。”
There are some hurdles alternative medicines face to get on the world's shelves, though. For instance, earlier this year, the Indian government introduced testing for levels of heavy metals such as mercury, lead and arsenic in Ayurvedic products for export after the Journal of the American Medical Association showed high levels of metals in traditional medicines shipped from India.
, http://www.100md.com
不过，替代性药物要想被全世界所接受还需要克服一些障碍。例如，印度政府今年早些时候开始对出口的阿育吠陀产品中汞、铅和砷等重金属的含量进行检测，因为此前《美国医学会杂志》刊登的文章称，印度出口的传统药物中重金属的含量很高。
"In traditional Chinese medicine, it's difficult to know which compounds are effective and which can be harmful," says Yang Yongping, deputy director of the Kunming Institute of Botany, which studies ancient Chinese remedies. "Chinese medicine is criticized by some people because (practitioners) have no idea which chemical compounds are bioactive."
, http://www.100md.com
昆明植物研究所副所长杨永平说：“对于中药，人们难以知道药物中哪种成分是有效的，哪种成分是有害的。一些人批评中药的理由是，(行医者)不知道哪种化学成分是有生物活性的。”
Also, regulations and enforcement vary widely from country to country. "Standardization (of Eastern medicine) is going to be key," says Borneo Plant's Mr. Brown. "At the end of the day, you have be sure (companies) aren't just selling sawdust in a capsule."
此外，不同国家有关传统药物的规定以及执行这些规定的情况也大相径庭。Borneo Plant的布朗说：“(东方药物的)标准化将是关键。说到底，你必须确保(企业)卖的不是裹在胶囊里的锯末。”
, 百拇医药
Among the array of promising prospects under development is an old-time remedy for the menopause. Nearly 500 years ago, a Chinese doctor named Jin-Yue Zhang wrote down his recipes for various ailments, including an herbal remedy known as Zuo-Gui Wan, which he gave to women suffering from the menopause.
目前人们正在开发的一种用于更年期妇女的古老药物具有良好的市场前景。将近500年以前，有位名叫张景岳的中国医生将他治疗各种疾病的处方纪录了下来，其中包括一种叫做左归丸的中药，他用这种药物来治疗遭受绝经之苦的妇女。
Three years ago, teams at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Shanghai Innovative Research Center of Traditional Chinese Medicine took the Zhang formula, included in the 1624 volume, "The Complete Book of Jin-Yue," and replaced four of eight active ingredients -- two from plants banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and two from endangered tortoises and deer antler -- with substances from modern pharmacology.
, 百拇医药
三年前，香港中文大学和上海中药创新研究中心开始研究张景岳1624年出版的《景岳全书》中左归丸的配方，他们替换了配方中8种原料中的4种，因为这4种中有两种是美国食品和药物管理局禁用的药品，另外两种原料则来自濒危的海龟以及鹿茸，他们选择的代用品都是用现代方法生产的药品。
In preclinical animal tests, this new version of the Zhang menopausal prescription was found to enhance memory and decrease depression: In short, "it showed an estrogen-like effect," says Wang Jun, a biochemist at Chinese University who is leading the project and says it has "tremendous market potential" given the aging female population globally. The drug is awaiting approval from authorities in China to undergo clinical trials there.
, 百拇医药
在临床前动物试验中，这种新版左归丸被发现可以增强记忆力并降低抑郁情绪。领导这一研究项目的香港中文大学生物化学家王军(音)说：“它显示了雌激素般的效果。”他说，鉴于全球妇女日益老龄化，这种药物具有“巨大的市场潜力”。研究人员目前正在等待中国相关部门批准以对这种药物进行临床试验。
As for Ms. Harrison in Melbourne -- who decided to try Chinese medicine after reading it could assist becoming a mother -- she is a true believer. "I used to think Chinese medicine was something for witch doctors," she says. "But the results for me have been amazing."
至于墨尔本的哈里森女士，她已经成为中药的真诚信仰者。哈里森是在读到中药可以帮助受孕的文章后开始尝试中药的。她说：“我过去曾认为中药是巫医们使用的东西，但中药在我身上产生了惊人的疗效。”, 百拇医药