The national pharmacopoeias of the Baltic States

Abstract

After Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania proclaimed their independence in 1918 and began to create their national health care systems, one of their stated priorities was the formulation and publication of national pharmacopoeias. In order to accomplish this, working groups as well as commissions composed of pharmacists, medical specialists and even linguists had to be formed. The process was long and difficult. New terminology in native languages had to be created. Sources for the monographs had to be chosen, researched, analyzed and compared. There were organizational and financial problems. Nevertheless, by the late 1930s, all three Baltic States published their national pharmacopoeias. Officially, they were not able to use them for long because duringWorldWar II all three were occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union. Pharmacists in those countries were obliged to use the Soviet pharmacopoeias, although unofficially, they also made good use of their national ones. Currently, the European Pharmacopoeia is in use in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.