Traditional European Medicine

Traditional European Medicine (abbreviation TEM ) or Traditional European Medicine  ( TEH ) is a not clearly defined term under which a number of treatment methods are summarized that have emerged in the European cultural area. These treatment methods usually belong to alternative or complementary medicine . This term is not used in the history of medicine.

Treatment methods

Kneipp medicine , naturopathy , anthroposophic medicine and homeopathy are often included in traditional European medicine - which is also increasingly being used in health resorts .

While some authors also include humoral pathology and other elements of monastery medicine (for example Hildegard medicine ) as part of traditional European medicine, others want to define the term more narrowly. Since the theories on which the individual treatment methods are based partly contradict each other, there is no common system in contrast to traditional Chinese medicine .

Cultural and legal significance

The term can be found today both in the health market approval as well as in the question of cultural traditions .

In 2004, for example, the EU issued a directive ( 2004/24 / EC ) that regulated the concept of naturopathic remedies. According to this, traditional herbal medicines can be registered. This guideline was seen as an opportunity, but also as a critical issue with regard to pharmaceutical, medical and pharmacy care. It was changed in 2011 so that it provided for a simplified national procedure for the market introduction, but at the same time the EU-wide registration could only be classified as food according to Directive 2002/46 / EC on food supplements . Only evidence of 30 years of medical use is required (of which at least 15 years in the EU). In particular, it was intended to facilitate “access to Chinese or Indian Ayurvedic medicines or the products of companies with limited financial resources”, but it also had an impact on autochthonous European naturopathy.

In addition to the trademark reservation of pharmaceutical preparations, it is of legal importance in relation to the copyright protection of genetic material. The protection of gene-sequenced data through commercial research and development in relation to traditional medicinal plants has played a politically explosive role in recent years, especially in developing countries, but is also becoming increasingly relevant for Europe.

That is why European institutions are also trying to declare traditional healing knowledge as common property in order to protect it from being appropriated. In Austria, for example, UNESCO has recognized several entries on healing methods as intangible cultural heritage . This measure was accompanied by a project Traditional and Complementary Healing Methods in Austria of the Austrian Ministry of Health  (BMG) and the Documentation Center for Traditional and Complementary Healing Methods  (CAM-TM) 2007, which presents an inventory of medicinal plants, animal products and natural substances and resources with their use . The reason was the amendment of the EU Directive 2004/24 / EC, through which there was a risk that “remedies would be displaced from pharmacies” and “without equivalent quality controls slipping into the gray area between cosmetics, food supplements and food”, but also they to be compared with other complementary medicine. In this way, a possibility was created to  enter traditional Austrian medicine in the Austrian Pharmacopoeia (ÖAB), which is also possible for individual pharmacies and small businesses. At the same time, the commitment of UNESCO is also intended to dispel reservations about folk medical home remedies , which came under the reputation of "poor people's medicine" after the Second World War, as well as promoting scientifically based ethnomedicine for Austria as well. In addition, the designation forms a basis for future international agreements on the protection of traditional medicine, as it was laid down as a basis in the internationally binding UNESCO conventions for the protection of cultural diversity of 2005 and for the preservation of the intangible cultural heritage of 2003. In addition, the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture  (BMLFUW) has kept a register of traditional foods since 2006 , which  is accredited by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and which also contains special crops relevant to medicinal products. One of the basic conditions of both registers is that the protected property has been demonstrable for at least three generations (this corresponds to the copyright period of 70 years).

Designation of traditional European medicine as a cultural asset :

• Austria:
  • Pharmacy's own house specialties ( UNESCO, 2010 ) - for the in-house pharmaceutical preparations customary in Austria to this day
  • Healing Knowledge of the Pinzgau Inside ( UNESCO, 2010 ) - on a research project on alpine folk medicine in the state of Salzburg
  • Knowledge of traditional seed cultivation and production ( UNESCO, 2014 ) - about cultivated plants in general
  • for individual applications e.g. E.g .: gray poppy seeds ( PDO 1995, BMLUF, 2006 ), pumpkin seed oil ( PGI , BMLUF, 2006 ), spotted gentian ( UNESCO, 2010 ); u. at the

See also

• Ancient Greek tradition
• Japanese traditional medicine

literature

• Survey of traditional and complementary healing methods in Austria. Project report, Documentation Center for Traditional and Complementary Healing Methods, Vienna 2011 ( pdf , cam-tm.com).
• Pschyrembel. Clinical Dictionary. 2016.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Karsten Münstedt: Advice on unconventional cancer therapies . Hüthig Jehle Rehm, October 1, 2005, ISBN 9783609163291 , p. 34 (accessed January 31, 2011).
2. ^ Bahn BKK Traditional European Medicine . Archived from the original on October 26, 2011. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 31, 2011. 
3. ↑ Berndt Rieger: Traditional European Medicine: Healing Art and Recipes of the Monks and Herbal Witches . Herbig, March 2005, ISBN 9783776624212 (Retrieved January 31, 2011).
4. ^ First TEM spa center Bad Kreuzen .
5. ^ Bernhard Uehleke: Naturopathic Treatment and "Traditional European Medicine" TEM: Results of an expert survey (Delphi method) . In: Swiss Journal of Holistic Medicine / Swiss Journal of Integrative Medicine . 19, No. 4, 2007, pp. 199-203. doi : 10.1159 / 000283795 .
6. ↑ Micke, Büntzel: Traditional European medicinal systems in the complementary oncology . In: The oncologist . 19, No. 2, 2013, pp. 125-131. doi : 10.1007 / s00761-012-2384-x .
7. ↑ ^{a b c} Herbal medicinal products: Directive 2004/24 / EC. Federal Office for Safety in Health Care, April 26, 2011 (accessed April 1, 2016).
8. ↑ ^{a b c} Questions and Answers: Registration of Traditional Herbal Medicines. European Commission, MEMO / 11/71, Brussels, February 4, 2011.
9. ↑ ^{a b c} Maria Walcher: What chance does the cultural heritage offer to guarantee the preservation of traditional healing methods? Austrian UNESCO Commission / National Agency for Intangible Cultural Heritage, undated (accessed March 31, 2016).
10. ↑ See literature
11. ↑ UNESCO fears for the future of herbal medicines. on geomix.at News , October 18, 2007.
12. ↑ cf. on this, complementary healing methods and traditional applications in Austria. Federal Ministry of Health, n.d. (pdf, bmg.gv.at, accessed March 31, 2016).
13. ↑ ^{a b} Knowledge gathered from folk medicine in danger. In: Der Standard online, October 29, 2007
14. ↑ Folk medicine: Orally transmitted knowledge. ORF Wissen , July 4, 2006.