and do you know who now owns most herbal companies?---pharmaceuticals---a real reason to be cautious---grow your own
PG >Watch out for those Experts!!! >____________________ > >Herbal Remedies: Helpful or Harmful? > >Experts Call for Government Regulation of Alternative Medicines > >By Liza Jane Maltin >WebMD Medical News > >June 12, 2000 -- Americans are turning more and more often to herbal >remedies as a natural alternative to drugs. But before you head off to the >health food store for that bottle of St. John's wort or kava kava, you >should know that natural does not necessarily mean safer. In fact, evidence >is mounting that some of the most popular herbs can have serious side >effects. > >Now, a team of researchers has collected all the information available -- >from clinical trial results to FDA warnings to individual physician's >reports -- on several of the most widely used herbs, and created a set of >guidelines that doctors and patients can use to protect themselves. Their >complete report appears in the Spring issue of the Journal of >Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience. > >"The bottom line is that these herbal medications are purported to be >harmless, but that's an incorrect myth. [Reports about individuals] and >letters to the editors in various medical journals have documented that >these are in fact not harmless," says lead author W. Curt LaFrance Jr., MD, >who is with the departments of neurology and psychiatry at Brown University >School of Medicine in Providence, R.I. > >St. John's wort, for example, which can indeed be useful in mild or moderate >depression, has now been implicated in heart transplant rejection. >Apparently, LaFrance explains, the herb can render anti-rejection drugs >ineffective. Kava kava, which has been shown to successfully relieve >insomnia and anxiety, can also cause patients on various psychiatric drugs >like Valium and Librium to become severely disoriented. And the list of side >effects and drug interactions continues to grow. > >Unlike prescription drugs, which are closely regulated by the FDA, herbal >products are considered food and are not required to undergo rigorous animal >and human testing before being placed on the market. It is entirely up to >the consumer to seek out information before deciding to take an herbal >product, but most consumers are not doing the research. And they're not >talking to their doctors, either, LaFrance tells WebMD. > >Although doctors should be making every effort to learn exactly which drugs >-- chemical or herbal -- their patients are taking, patients must do their >part as well, says LaFrance. People worry that their doctor will scoff at >their use of an alternative medicine, he says, so they put themselves at >unnecessary risk by not mentioning it. > >"I think there is potential for these herbal medications, so I wouldn't >throw the baby out with the bath water," says LaFrance. "But it needs to be >cautiously monitored." Herbs may come from a garden rather than a >laboratory, but they "are bioactive substances with the potential to do good >and the potential to harm," he says. "The bottom line is that they should be >regulated." >???????????????????? >Watch out for that bottom line... > > >>From: "d.linen" <[email protected]> >>Reply-To: [email protected] >>To: [email protected] >>Subject: Re: CS>NY Board of Health checked my CS!!!!/Diane >>Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 00:39:55 -0500 >> >> >> >>[email protected] wrote: >> >> > >> > I agree - and I don't foresee mainstream medical people getting on >>board >> > anytime soon - mostly because it seems difficult for them to believe >>that >> > something inexpensive and wonderfully useful could have been supressed >>all >> > these years. I think they really believe their "science" and the >>industries >> > borne from it have a higher moral fiber than that. Maybe I'm >>overreacting >> > but I'm just glad Dotsie isn't in deep trouble over this. :( >> >>For sure, Samantha. I can't quite imagine how awful it must have been >>for Dotsie to think her CS caused a problem and having it checked out by >>the BOH. >> >>Diane >> >> >>-- >>The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver. >> >>To join or quit silver-list or silver-digest send an e-mail message to: >>[email protected] -or- [email protected] >>with the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the SUBJECT line. >> >>To post, address your message to: [email protected] >>Silver-list archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html >>List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]> >> > >________________________________________________________________________ >Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com
