Current Situation of International Organization for Standardization/Technical Committee 249 International Standards of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Objective： To review the current situation and progress of traditional Chinese medicine（TCM） international standards, standard projects and proposals in International Organization for Standardization（ISO）/technical committee（TC） 249. Methods： ISO/TC 249 standards and standard projects on the ISO website were searched and new standard proposals information were collected from ISO/TC 249 National Mirror Committee in China. Then all the available data were summarized in 5 closely related items, including proposed time, proposed country, assigned working group（WG）, current stage and classification. Results： In ISO/TC 249, there were 2 international standards, 18 standard projects and 24 new standard proposals proposed in 2014. These 44 standard subjects increased year by year since 2011. Twenty-nine of them were proposed by China, 15 were assigned to WG 4, 36 were in preliminary and preparatory stage and 8 were categorized into 4 fields, 7 groups and sub-groups based on International Classification Standards. Conclusion： A rapid and steady development of international standardization in TCM can be observed in ISO/TC 249.

Developing ISO International Standards for the Animal and Vegetable Fats and Oils Sector

Increasing volumes of oils and fats are produced annually with a large section that are traded internationally. The International Organization for Standardization(ISO) body develops international standards covering almost all aspects of technology and manufacturing with 23,882 standards currently published. Standards in the animal and vegetable fats and oils sector is developed by Technical Committee ISO/TC 34, Food products, Subcommittee SC 11, Animal and vegetable fats and oils. Standards are developed through consensus by national members that represent ISO in their country. Each Standard is developed within a determined timeframe and goes through various pre-determined stages such as project proposal, development, national voting and commenting on the draft Standard to final publication. ISO TC34/SC11 Standards range from sampling of oils and fats, sample preparation to analysis of its composition, the minor components, and quality and identity parameters as well as contaminants. The analysis results are used by industry for product development, labelling, research and to provide peace of mind for consumers on its safety. An important future trend is the focus on the safety concerns from either environmental contamination(e.g. mineral oils) or processing contaminants such as esters of 3-MCPDs(3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol or 3-chloropropane-1,2-diol).

Visualization analysis of the international standard ISO/TC 249 for traditional Chinese medicine

Objective This study proposes to visually review the current situation and progress of standards sets by the International Organization for Standardization/Technical Committee on Traditional Chinese Medicine(ISO/TC 249). The review aims to explore the development strategies of the standards, which will exhibit the considerable impact on the economy, trade and exchanges, and cooperation in the area of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM).Methods ISO/TC 249 standards were searched on the ISO website, and their title, proposed time, current stage, scope, and classification were obtained for further summarization. Gephi was utilized to portray the co-occurrence network graph of the ISO/TC 249 standards subject.Results In ISO/TC 249, there were 116 standards, including 81 published standards and 35 developing standards by April 30, 2022. Two withdrawal standards were published after revision, which were not counted in the total standards. The number of published standards has been increasing since the first standard was published in 2014, whose title was “Sterile acupuncture needles for single use”. Among these standards, 17.24%(20/116) standards were in review, 56.03%(65/116) in publication, 3.45%(4/116) in approval, 5.17%(6/116) in enquiry,3.45%(4/116) in committee, and 14.66%(17/116) in preparation, respectively. With 116 standards, most of the research focused on the medicament, as its classification of the International Classification for Standards(ICS) showed the proportion reaching 49.54%. The network analysis data revealed that the top five most frequent words were “materials” “root” “requirements” “products” and “system”, after removing the noise data, such as prepositions,conjunctions, and pronouns. Additionally, the word “system” co-exists with the terms “computerized” “coding” “image” “tongue” and “analysis”;the word “requirement” co-exists with“manufacturing” “decoction” “process” and “materials”;whereas the word “devices” coexists with “pulse” “electric” “skin” and “measurement”.Conclusion With the increased diversification and complexity of problems, the development of standards is also oriented to multidisciplinary fields to cultivate the interdisciplinary talents, and especially the international standardization talents of compound TCM. Multi-angle analysis, formulation, and demonstration of standards, in line with industry needs in different disciplines, enhance the availability of standards and the ability to serve the industry.

The Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia Data Management System for the Arctic Sciences

The brokering approach can be successfully used to overcome the crucial question of searching among enormous amount of data （raw and/or processed） produced and stored in different information systems. In this paper, authors describe the Data Management System the DMS （Data Management System） developed by INGV （Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia） to support the brokering system GEOSS （Global Earth Observation System of Systems） adopted for the ARCA （Arctic Present Climate Change and Past Extreme Events） project. This DMS includes heterogeneous data that contributes to the ARCA objective （www.arcaproject.it） focusing on multi-parametric and multi-disciplinary studies on the mechanism （s） behind the release of large volumes of cold and fresh water from melting of ice caps. The DMS is accessible directly at the www.arca.rm.ingv.it, or through the IADC （Italian Arctic Data Center） at http：//arcticnode.dta.cnr.it/iadc/gi-portal/index.jsp that interoperates with the GEOSS brokering system （http：//www.geoportal.org0 making easy and fast the search of specific data set and its URL.

Suggestions for recommending talents to ISO Central Secretariat

Training and sending talents to international organizations are of great significance for countries to participate in global governance.The standards set by the International Organization for Standardization(ISO),the Largest and most prestigious international standardization organization in the world,are referred to as the"passport"to international trade and have a significant influence on the growth of the world’s economy and social system.This paper introduces the recruitment mechanism of the ISO Central Secretariat(ISO/CS),and discusses the existing problems of China’s international talent cultivation and provides suggestions on how to cultivate and send experts to work at ISO.

Characterization and Comparison Analysis of WHO Monographs on Selected Medicinal Plants and Iso Standards of Chinese Materia Medica

Medicinal plants or Chinese materia medica(CMM)are now attracting worldwide attention as they have increasingly prominent advantages over chemical drugs in disease treatment and healthcare.Since the 1990s,World Health Organization(WHO)and International Organization for Standardization established the Technical Committee of Traditional Chinese Medicine(ISO/TC 249)have carried out the development of quality standards on medicinal plants or CMMs respectively,and a considerable number of monographs and international standards have been published.Since the two international organizations adhere to different principles,the standards they develop naturally have different emphasis.Driven by market demand and international trade,ISO mainly takes quality,efficacy and safety into consideration when developing standards,while WHO pays more attention to clinical practice,quality control and medication guidance.Up to now,there is a lack of comparative analysis on the records,background,principles,basic content,and main requirements of quality standards on medicinal plants or CMMs respectively published by WHO and ISO.Therefore,based on international standards of CMM developed by ISO/TC 249 platform and WHO Monographs on Selected Medicinal Plants,this paper systematically compares the purposes,selected principles,standard-developing process,basic content,and main quality requirements to summarize their similarities and differences,and find their merits,aiming to serve as a reference to the development of international standards for CMMs that helps them go global.