Herbal Medicine Bites Back
By Ivor Hughes
Herbal Therapeutics stands ready to enter the mainstream of Western style medicine as a credible complementary system. Statistics issued by the World Health Organisation suggest that approximately 80% of the global population rely upon Herbal Medicine for their primary health care. In those countries that enjoy a high standard of living, the public patronage of natural therapeutics is at an all time high, for example;
| A survey conducted in the USA in 1990 showed that patients made over 425 million visits to Natural Therapists compared with just 388 million to primary care physicians. It has been estimated that Americans are now spending about US $12 billion each year on non orthodox treatment." | |
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Sir David Weatheral Science and the Quiet Art. 1994 |
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The hard economic facts of those figures speak for themselves because 52% of the medical consumers in the USA literally put their money where their mouths are. Later in the same chapter Sir David states that in 1994 there were 30,000 practitioners of natural therapeutics registered in Great Britain alone.
The current figures show, 40 thousand Natural Therapists. Out numbering the Orthodox GP's, by a figure of 2000.
Obviously public awareness of natural therapies is high, and the money is changing places. It is the hard economic facts, that has prompted the pharmaceutical and medical elite, who have the ear of the legislators in high places, to launch a propaganda attack on the safety and efficacy of medicinal herbs. The propaganda is quite the equal of a Nation at war. A death which has been attributed to a natural product, is given widespread media coverage. Whilst the horrifying reality, of hundreds of thousands of deaths on an annual basis, which may be attributed to orthodox medicine, is suppressed and ignored by the media.
The Other Side of the Coin.
In July 1997, addressing the First World Conference on Breast Cancer, environmental consultant and policy researcher Cindy Sage declared that decision-making on public health issues is hampered "when there is a large industry presence [that] may suffer financial consequences with the admission of liability for a carcinogenic product." Such a situation, she added, "creates a difficult climate for funding, evaluating and acting on new scientific information. The state of the science becomes a battleground, where scientific uncertainty is argued as reason to defer action or take trivial or meaningless action.
Adverse reactions to conventional medical treatments, contribute in no small measure to the poor state of health in Westernised nations. It could be argued, that, the life expectancy level has increased significantly due to modern drugs and medical technology. However the question that we should be asking, is; 'Of what quality is that increase in life expectancy ? And how much of that increase may be attributed to the management of such things as, water, sewage and household waste ?
In the years 1993 and 1998, studies were published, that estimated the number of deaths in the USA that were attributable to the medical system. The figures are as follows;
| 12,000 | deaths a year from unnecessary surgery |
| 7,000 | deaths a year from medication errors in hospitals |
| 20,000 | deaths a year from other errors in hospitals |
| 80,000 | deaths a year from infections acquired in hospitals |
| 106,000 | deaths a year from non-error, adverse effects of medications |
These 225 000 deaths a year in the United States, represent third place in the mortality stakes. Heart disease, is in first place, with Cancer in second. Heart disease, Cancer and Iatrogenic (Physician caused) disease is out stripping our capacity to deal with it. It is increasing rapidly, on an annual basis.
Source of figures :Starfield B. JAMA 2000, 284, 483.
When the medical historians are finally able to write a definitive history of the 20th century orthodox medicine, they will have a burgeoning catalogue of medical disasters upon which to draw.
Now it would be both churlish and bigoted to deny the many benefits that have accrued from the entry of the chemical companies into the medicines market, because for every tale of catastrophe there are many of minor miracles. Nonetheless, medicine is BIG business and like big business everywhere, and supported by unscrupulous lawyers doctors and scientists, they have often been involved in chicanery motivated by cupidity. All of which has been visited on an unwitting public. The drug companies have labeled their joint products as 'ETHICALS' one cannot help but see the droll cynicism behind such a name.
The following is a small sampling from a large body of accumulated evidence as it relates to the drug and medical Industry.
| A |
Richardson~Merrell,
the U.S. drug company of Vicks Vapor Rub fame, promoted a product called 'TRIPARANOL' used for the reduction of blood cholesterol levels. Apart from other unpleasant side-effects, some of the users went blind. Large compensation payments were made and a U.S. $80,000 fine was imposed. In addition some of the company executive officers were prosecuted by the FDA for giving false information about the drug when seeking a product licence. |
| B | In 1958, the German drug company Grnenthal, via their licensee, Distillers Co. (Biochemicals) Ltd., commenced to market THALIDOMIDE. A drug used as a sedative, that was considered so safe that it was sold in German supermarkets. After numerous babies had been born with gross deformities, the drug was withdrawn in 1961. In the U.S.A. Richardson~Merrell had also applied for a product licence, fortunately a vigilant FDA official with the TRIPARANOL affair in mind, blocked the application. |
| C | In the summer of 1982, a non steroidal anti-inflammatory drug called OPREN had its U.K. products licence withdrawn. The drug was developed by the U.S. company Eli Lilly and marketed in the U.K. by their subsidiary Dista Products. There were 3,500 reported cases of adverse reactions in the U.K. alone. Of that number there were 61 deaths and widespread damage to bone marrow, liver, stomach, intestines, eyes and skin. Within a week of the British product licence being withdrawn, Eli Lilly withdrew the drug on a worldwide basis. |
| D | In the autumn of 1982, following the withdrawal of OPREN the Italian drug company Farmitalia Carlo Erba, via their British subsidiary Montedison Pharmaceuticals, commenced to market an anti-arthritic drug called FLOSINT, which was another non steroidal anti-inflammatory, no doubt to cover the market gap left by OPREN's withdrawal. The publicity blurb stated the FLOSINT was without an unacceptable level of adverse effects. FLOSINT was suspended 15 months later, after 7 deaths and hundreds of cases of internal bleeding. |
| E | Ciba~Geigy, under pressure from the British government, in March 1984 were forced to withdraw 2 anti-inflammatories called TANDERIL and TANDACOTE, which had been on the market since the 1960's. They both contained a nasty called OXYPHENBUTAZONE.Ciba~Geigy knew as early as September 1982, that 1182 deaths were associated with the compound. Remember that the drugs had been on the market for over 20 years, and that of thousands of deaths, there were 1500 in the U.K. alone. The deaths followed damage to bone marrow, intestinal bleeding and heartfailure. |
The sort of problems listed are not just confined to the prescription only drugs. The over the counter (OTC's) drugs and pharmacy only medications (POM's) are generally considered to be safe and yet, the ubiquitous Aspirin is estimated to be responsible for around 5% of fatal poisonings each year. The much used anti-inflammatories, antacids and laxatives are estimated to account for 20% of all drug related hospital admissions.
The G.P. and MD reporting system for adverse drug reactions is voluntary. The G.P. is expected to exercise 'clinical judgement' and a patients' report of side-effects is anecdotal, and per se not considered to be reliable. Accordingly, the Doctors decision to report or not, is all too often based on a subjective criterion, e.g. he/she is neurotic, hysterical, hypochondriac, etc. It may well, equally be ignored because of sheer pressure of work and unwilling to take on more. How many deaths due to side effects have not been reported ?
The major point to be made is, that many of the drugs implicated in fatalities and extreme reactions, had been on the market for a number of years, and some for decades, before being withdrawn. Given the evidence surrounding the synthetic and semi-synthetic drugs, the problem is obviously being under reported, and must only represent a small percentage of the total deaths and maiming's in any one year.
There is obviously something wrong with the system, because, if it takes 10 or 20 years for a statistically significant trend to show up on a chart, then that reporting and medical system is fundamentally flawed. It must be changed, and changed quickly.
In the 1970,s a book called Medical Nemesis was published. It was written by Ivan Illich. A world renowned Social Commentator and Iconoclast. Below are three quotes, they are taken from his book. They reveal the harsh, but the far seeing reality, of his vision.
(1) "Iatrogenic medicine reinforces a morbid society, in which social control of the population by the medical system, turns into economic activity.
(2) "The malignant spread of medicine .... turns mutual care and self-medication into misdemeanors and felonies
3) "The divorce between medicine and morality has been defended on the ground that medical categories, unlike those of law and religion, rest on scientific foundations exempt from moral value."
Ivan Illich
Medical Nemesis
