By Liu Chang

Yunnan Baiyao Powder, a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) that many swear could stop their bleeding and ease their pain, always enjoyed the right to keep their healing ingredients a secret.

As a State-protected TCM, the ingredients and formula of Yunnan Baiyao products are State secrets under Chinese law, and for decades, they were not disclosed publicly.

However, on November 27, some microblog users in China discovered that the ingredients of Yunnan Baiyao are easily available on the website of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

A search of the website turned up the ingredients of two products from the Yunnan Baiyao Group, Yunnan Baiyao Ding and Yunnan Baiyao Gao, found in two letters in 2002. The letters were addressed to Herbmax Inc, a US medicinal distributor that tried to sell the medicines as dietary supple-ments in the US.

In addition, the Global Times also found that the major ingredients of Yunnan Baiyao capsule and Yunnan Baiyao spray are available on Amazon.com.

The discovery has led to concerns about whether there is a double standard concerning the protection of TCM formulas at home and abroad.

Yunnan Baiyao first entered the market in 1902 in Southwestern China's Yunnan Prov-ince, and in 1956, the State Council classified Yunnan Baiyao's formula and produc-tion process as State secrets.

Top secret

Under the Law on Guarding State Secrets, the formula as well as the making of the Yunnan Baiyao were considered "top secret" and enjoyed the longest period of secrecy protection, according to National Business Daily (NBD). There are four levels of secrecy under the Law.

As a result, Yunnan Baiyao's exact ingredients are not printed on its packaging in China, and its production process was not disclosed even to workers in the factory.

The workers making the medicine are reportedly divided into 13 different groups so that they have no knowledge of the rest of the production process.

Some of the Yunnan Baiyao's products are sold in the US as diet supplements.

According to FDA regulations, all diet supplements sold in the US market must list their ingredients on the package and report them to relevant authorities.

Officials from the Yunnan Baiyao Group, the exclusive producer of Yunnan Baiyao, denied to Xinhua News Agency Thursday that there is a double standard in Yunnan Baiyao's secret-protection policy, and that ingredients are only reported to drug authorities.

"Whoever disclosed the ingredients should be held legally liable," Huang Wushuang, an expert on intellectual property rights at East China University of Political Sciences, said.

Preferential prices

However, Chen Changxiong, the deputy director of the Policy Research Center at the China Pharmaceutical Association, told the Global Times that ingredients of a drug do not equal to its formula, and the secret of Yunnan Baiyao consists not only of its ingredients, but also the portion of the components, the production techniques, and the production procedure.

"You cannot produce a medicine by only knowing its components," said Chen.

Apart from being a State secret, Yunnan Baiyao was also rated as first-class protected item under a 1992 regulation issued by the Ministry of Health.

As benefits, Yunnan Baiyao could enjoy some preferential policies including self-determination on market prices of their products and long-term property rights protection.

These rights have made the production of protected herbal medicines lucrative.

According to NBD, more than 1,200 Chinese herbal medicine producers have applied to the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and State Secrets Bureau in 2005 to secure protection for their medicines.

The Yunnan Baiyao Group has a series of products under the name of Yunnan Baiyao, including Yunnan Baiyao Tincture, Yunnan Baiyao Plaster, Yunnan Baiyao Aerosol and even Yunnan Baiyao Toothpaste.

According to a report Friday by CB.com.cn, an online business news portal, Yunnan Baiyao products enjoy a favored pricing policy.

On February 5, 2009, the Yunnan Baiyao Group raised their overall product prices. Prices for some of their products went up 143 percent. Even the Yunnan Baiyao Toothpaste is now more expensive at ($4.6) 30 yuan per tube.