European Initiative for Traditional Asian Medicine

The European Initiative for Traditional Asian Medicine (EITAM) was founded as an interdisciplinary platform of the different Asian traditional medical systems and therapies, which already contribute to the health care system in Europe with increasing public acceptance. The main goal of EITAM is to maintain, promote and develop the use of Asian medical treatments in Europe. The medicines and their application practice must satisfy high standards of safety and quality. The current European legal situation does not sufficiently consider the special circumstances of Asian traditional medical therapies, making the registration of traditional Asian medicines almost impossible. In addition, it is to be feared that the practical implementation of the European Traditional Medicines Guideline may not fully correspond to the intentions of the European parliament. To continue the contribution to the health of the European people and to serve the needs of the medical practitioners EITAM promotes the use of medicinal products of the Asian medicinal systems with

• high quality and safety standards,
• in sufficient variety and
• legalised as medicines.

The Asian traditional medical therapies represented by EITAM are Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Indian Medicine (Ayurveda), Tibetan Medicine and other traditional Asian medical systems. EITAM engages actively in the interdisciplinary dialogue with other medical traditions, especially from Europe.