http://english.people.com.cn/200509/27/eng20050927_211209.html

Currently there are 4 billion people worldwide using natural
medicines, organizers of the 2nd International Conference &
Exposition on the Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine
said. The huge number has pressed all governments to keep lifting
restrictions on Chinese herbal medicine, which is ushering in a new
opportunity for global development with climbing sales year by year.

Germany is the country consuming the most Chinese herbal medicines
in west Europe, accounting for 70 percent EU market and with 58
percent Germans taking such medicines. Medicines made of licorice
root, pangolin scales, rhizome of wind-weed and fuling (Poria
coccus) as well as pills made of garlic, hawthorn and rutin have
enjoyed an annual sale of 2.2 billion US dollars in EU countries.

Doctors of Chinese herbal medicine in Australia see at least 2.8
million visits each year, and herbal medicine import has increased
four times since 1992.

Traditional medicine is also gaining legal status in the United
States. In 1992 NIH set up a research office on alternative medicine
to evaluate traditional medicines including Chinese herbs. The FDA
no longer requires herbal medicines to be a "pure ingredient" but
can be "safe, effective and controllable mixture", removing legal
barriers for traditional Chinese medicine to enter American
mainstream market.

By People's Daily Online