Noble Chinese herbal medicine leeches fake! Scholars surveyed 200 traditional Chinese medicine shops and found that 30% of the fake products were similar to Indonesian snacks.

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Leech is an expensive traditional Chinese medicine used to activate blood circulation and remove blood stasis. It is rumored that there are counterfeits. According to Lai Yide, a doctor of biology in China, who visited everywhere and identified in the laboratory, the biological types of counterfeit products have nothing to do with leeches, and whether they have the proper efficacy of leeches is unknown, but they are circulated in traditional Chinese medicine shops all over Taiwan, and there are also Chinese medicine practitioners who use them as prescriptions without noticing them.

Leeches cost NT $3,000 to NT $5,000 a jin, or even higher, and the spread of counterfeit products may not only affect human health, but also involve illegal fraud. Lai Yide collected complete evidence and called on the competent authorities to actively investigate and deal with it immediately.

Scholar Lai Yide met with Huang Yichao, director of the Department of traditional Chinese Medicine, to expose leech counterfeit products (Photography / Cai Jiashan)

However, more than a month later, the examination results of the Department of traditional Chinese Medicine have not been released for a long time. When the reporter called to inquire, Commissioner Huang Yanhao replied that the samples had been sent to the Food and Drug Administration of the Ministry of Health and Fuzhou for inspection. "they are still in line," but there are no results yet. Huang Yanhao said that the target of the spot check included importers and pharmaceutical companies, which could not be disclosed. At first glance, only one sample "looks strange", while the rest should be genuine.

This year's "traditional Chinese Medicine Identification Seminar" will be launched on June 26. According to internal sources, the Department of Chinese Medicine has asked the course content to include the identification of leeches.

Lai Yide believes that since the Department of traditional Chinese Medicine has such a requirement, it acknowledges the existence of leech counterfeit products, and should complete the sample inspection as soon as possible, publish the results, and cooperate with the inspection and adjustment unit to trace the source of counterfeit products, and illegal manufacturers can no longer be tolerated.

He pointed out that the victims are not only ordinary small Chinese medicine companies, but also large pharmaceutical companies. Among the scientific traditional Chinese medicines, "Didang Tang" and "Dahuangchong Pill" both contain leech powder. At present, there are 13 and 6 permits respectively. If counterfeit products are misused, the goodwill of these big pharmaceutical companies may be damaged.

The government should trace the source of the counterfeit goods, and the injured industry can file a claim for compensation.

It is not difficult to identify counterfeit products with the naked eye, which can be identified from suckers and links. Lai Yide called on Chinese medicine practitioners who have leeches on hand to quickly check whether their goods are real or not. If they buy counterfeit products, they should find out who supplied the goods and make a claim to the upstream manufacturers.

Zheng Hongzu, a Chinese medicine practitioner, also believes that the government should step up inspections, including overseas inspection and customs, to ensure that what comes in is genuine, so that doctors can rest assured that they can use this medicine. For general Chinese medicine pharmacies, audit should also be strengthened to prevent innocent people from spending a lot of money and being wronged.

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