Get Your Cancer The Cool, Chinese Medicine Way
It's called the "naturalistic fallacy," the notion that because something is natural, it's good. People take "Chinese medicine" as if it's medicine, as if they have some evidence, beyond some hippie chick's advice, that it actually works and doesn't cause them harm.
Ruth Williams writes at the-scientist.com of some testing that's been done on one of the ingredients:
Plants of the Aristolochia genus have for centuries been used in Chinese herbal remedies, but they contain a naturally carcinogenic compound that causes mutations in the cells of people who consume them, according to two studies published in Science Translational Medicine today (August 7). The papers reveal that the compound, called aristolochic acid, causes more mutations than two of the best-known environmental carcinogens: tobacco smoke and UV light."A lot of people in the lay public assume that if something is herbal or natural that it is necessarily healthy," said Marc Ladanyi, an investigator in the human oncology and pathogenesis program at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York who was not involved in the studies. "But this work very clearly shows that this natural plant product is extremely genotoxic and carcinogenic."
Despite the long history of Aristolochia use in herbal remedies, evidence of the plants' inherent danger emerged only recently. In the early 1990s, women who had received Aristolochia treatments at a weight loss clinic in Belgium developed kidney problems that progressed to renal failure and, in later years, to abnormal growths in their upper urinary tracts. More recently, Aristolochia contamination of local wheat crops was determined to be the cause of a high incidence of urothelial carcinomas of the upper urinary tract (UTUC) among rural communities on the banks of the Danube river in Europe.
via Unix-Jedi
Some herbal medicines _are_ medicines. After all, a number of quite effective treatments came out of plant extracts. The "gotcha" there is that the effective ones are just as likely to have dangerous side effects for at least some people (all people are _not_ the same) with the added issue that dosage is less well controlled with "natural" herbal medicines than in the refined and purified forms.
David L. Burkhead at August 12, 2013 1:20 PM
Also it is well to remember that Belladonna, Nightshade, and "Death Angel" mushrooms are "all natural" too.
David L. Burkhead at August 12, 2013 1:22 PM
As is arsenic.
Tyler at August 12, 2013 4:42 PM
So is cocaine.
Patrick at August 12, 2013 4:55 PM
Funny you should bring this up. I saw an ad over the weekend about this reprocessed vitamin/herbal supplement that is based on the Okinawan diet to give you an extended life.
The problem is that Okinawa is considered a blue zone that has multiple factors to let people live longer and in better condition.
Jim P. at August 12, 2013 8:49 PM
It's natural for plants to grow toxins to discourage animals from eating them. Many of those toxins have medical uses - in small, purified doses, carefully matched to an actual medical need. But "traditional medicine" is at best based on observation of the effects, without controlled experiments to untangle all the other causes or see if the patients wouldn't have done as well or better without the treatment (usually people will get better on their own). And in the case of Aristolochia, it's based on magical thinking such as: the leaf looks like a uterus, so it must be good for women.
markm at August 13, 2013 5:59 AM
Maybe if we used it in a classic 100C homeopathic solution, we could have our magic and eat it too, without cancer?
Grey Ghost at August 13, 2013 6:46 AM
Hemlock is a plant, and makes a wonderful tea.
Well recommended if you're tired of this life and wish to shuffle off this mortal coil. See The Death of Socrates.
I R A Darth Aggie at August 13, 2013 7:11 AM
Memorable quote:
Mitch: What are you doing?
Chris Knight: Self-realization. I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said, "... I drank what?"
Jim P. at August 13, 2013 6:11 PM
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