Anti-Quackery & Science Blog
I have two questions that I ask anyone who tells me how "natural" products are more effective/safer/etc than other products:
Are natural poisons more effective or safer than other poisons?
Are there any natural poisons in the natural products you use?
The first is especially good for getting people to think...
The Pharmaceutical industry had a big push quite a few years ago to force regulation and control of homeopathic herbs and oils by, of course, themselves. Naturally, their aim was to gain control of a lucrative market; not any concerns over safety. Fortunately, they failed.
Humans have used homeopathic treatments successfully for thousands of years - it is only a hubris of modern thought to think that one must have a medical degree or stringent governmental controls to successfully do so now.
Just about any medicine on the market can be poisonous or harmful if taken in excess - and of course some natural remedies are no different.
However, trying to get some kind of highly-controlling grip on medicinal herbs, etc. would punish the all for the few who can't use common sense. (These would be the same adults who would sicken from eating poisionous mushrooms or berries without checking them out first) Additionally, many medicinal herbs, etc., also have other uses; particularly for food - an example would be garlic. Shall we put garlic bulbs behind the RX counter? Shall we outlaw the sale of seeds of any plant that might be harmful or used medicinally? You won't have many plants in your garden, if so.
The natural remedy/herbal industry has self-regulated to an extent where many products are of a labeled uniform potency and purity that matches that of RX standards.
*Senokot is for constipation, and is made from senna. It is effective, and less hard on the digestive system than comparable OTC chemical preparations.
Ah, nature ... that lovely muse that gives us poison ivy and nightshade. Surely she can do no wrong, right?
Is it just me, or is Cynthia making a straw-man argument? Yes, any herb can be poisonous - hck, even enough water will kill ya. And as for the more conventional spices being put behind the counter, the fact is no one is advocating that.
yes, people have been using homeopathic treatments for a long time (I don't agree with the "thousands of years" figure, but whatever). They have also been practicing trepanation for even longer. They also believed in evil spirits. We've progressed since then.
Oh, and Anne, could you drop me an e-mail? There's something I'd like to talk to you about in private.
Great Cynthia, now all we need from those wonderful companies in the natural remedy/herbal industry (golly, but have you noticed that many are also a part of the Pharmaceutical industry?) to show their products are safe and effective. Until they do, they're just taking advantage of your "common sense" to deceive you.
This way to the egress.
"Humans have used homeopathic treatments successfully for thousands of years - it is only a hubris of modern thought to think that one must have a medical degree or stringent governmental controls to successfully do so now."
Humans have used a lot of treatments through history - some of these treatments were harmless, a few had a positive effect, but many had a negative effect. The longer lives people experience now, is to some degree because of stringent governmental controls and because of people with medical degrees.
Just because we have done something wrong in thousands of years, it doesn't mean that we should stop doing it now. And the only way to see if we have done something wrong, is to actually test and control what we are doing - no matter the history of it.
I agree. Just because people have used a method in generations and because it might have had a powerful belief system behind it, that doesn't necessarily mean it works from a physiological standpoint. And "natural" doesn't exempt from danger or toxicity. Many people think that they can treat themselves with herbs, because herbal remedies are not really medicines.
This is incorrect.
Eating herbs are not the same as just eating a salad.
One dangerous result of this kind of thinking arises when people take these herbs to assist them through serious medical challenges like surgery. One danger of taking herbs like garlic, Echinacea and ginseng is that they can prolong blood's coagulation time, leading to severe bleeding in surgery patients.
Medicine Wars
Will Alternative and Mainstream Medicine Ever Be Friends?
Strange, isn't it? When people say they want to take hooha root or other herbal remedies rather than prescriptions from a doctor because it's "natural," they seem stunned at the fact (which I feel the need to mention) that is "natural" too.
--seems too shake 'em up for a moment.
Not that they stop the hooha.
Shows definitively that people don't trust doctors worth a damn. And going to see one--not pleasant, convenient, or even friendly.
Louise
ps. oops- tried html for the bold graphic--for the first time--looks like I got the ending tag wrong. ugh.
Commenting by HaloScan
