Originally published September 30 2005
Herbal remedies continue to gain acceptance
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
More and more people are turning to herbal remedies to replace or supplement conventional medical treatments, which leaves many consumers with a lot of their own research to do, since most conventional medical doctors don't know about herbal products and how they work or interact with other supplements or drugs.
American medicine cabinets are beginning to look more like spice racks.
Whether it's religion, personal preference or sheer curiosity, more people are seeking herbal relief in place of or to supplement conventional medicinal remedies.
The same plants that have contributed to centuries of patient care in other countries still fall under the label of "alternative" in America.
But nutritional supplement manufacturers and herbalists are seeing more indications that this alternative is gaining acceptance.
"Basically, from what customers tell me, drugs are poison, and they want to heal themselves as naturally as possible from some source," said Dannica Carle, second assistant manager at The Vitamin Shoppe in Gilroy.
Some critics argue that herbal supplements exaggerate their importance, and there is no federal regulation that guarantees that a specific amount of the main herb listed on a supplement is actually in the supplement.
Having manufacturers conform to a uniform standard is difficult when dealing with botanical products, said Dr. Susan Folkman, director of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine.
While there's no guarantee about herbal remedies that are put onto shelves, if there is a concern about the safety of one, the federal Food and Drug Administration must first prove that it is too risky for public consumption before the product can be taken off the market, according to the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act.
That leaves much of the research into an herbal remedy's safety to the consumer, as conventional medicine doctors may not be familiar with different herbs or supplement brands.
Ahnna Goossen of Gilroy, a licensed acupuncturist-herbalist, works with 100 different bottles of organic Chinese herbs that have been boiled into a brew and then condensed into pills.
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