Center for Safety of Chinese Herbal Medicine
The Center for Safety of Chinese Herbal Medicine (Centrum für Therapiesicherheit in der Chinesischen Arzneitherapie, CTCA) is a consortium of the principal professional societies for Chinese herbal medicine in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, along with individual qualified experts. We are committed to ensuring the safe application of Chinese herbal medicine and to preserving this valuable therapeutic approach within the context of 21st century. Further details can be found under the section General Goals.
We are an organization composed of therapists and other healthcare professionals, primarily drawn from the affiliated societies listed in the “About Us” section.
In its current practice, Chinese herbal medicine is generally regarded as a safe therapeutic modality, provided that it is administered appropriately by adequately trained and continuously educated practitioners and that pharmaceutical-grade quality standards of the medicinal substances are ensured. Nevertheless, adverse effects may occur.
If you are a physician, naturopathic practitioner, or pharmacist and you observe adverse effects associated with Chinese herbal medicine, we kindly ask you to contribute by reporting these using the CTCA designated reporting form (see attachment).
These contributions are intended to expand the collective understanding of potential risks and thereby benefit future patients.
It is important that reports contain sufficiently detailed and comprehensive information, as only such data enable reliable attribution of observed effects to a specific cause.
The CTCA expresses its gratitude for this contribution to pharmacovigilance and patient safety. Reports may be submitted via email to