Doctors Urge Herbal Treatment Tests: NY Times Attacks Us Again!

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Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1998 23:20:12 -0400
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Subject: Doctors Urge Herbal Treatment Tests: NY TIMES ATTACKS US AGAIN!

IAHF LIST: Firstly, would like to thank Carol in New Zealand for sending me this article from the NY Times. This shows how IAHF has been able to do so much. People all over the world helping each other out this way are hard for the pharmaceutical scum to stop. Please read this... the enemy is always trying to attack us and we can't let up our guard, not even for one second. Thanks for sending this, Carol. RenewTrient, the GH releasing product mentioned below, is a damn good product. Sure, if someone is stupid enough to take it and get behind the wheel of a car, the person's stupidity could cause a crash, but the stuff sure helps you sleep, and is also an incredibly good aphrodisiac, and low doses generate more energy than coffee! The bottom line is that no government, anywhere, has the right to tell us what we can and can't ingest. We are sovereign over our own bodies. Its our bloody choice whether to use stuff like RenewTrient or not!

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Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 12:56:02 +1200
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Subject: Doctors Urge Herbal Treatment Tests

The drumbeat continues...
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http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/a/AP-Alternative-Medicine.html

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September 16, 1998

Doctors Urge Herbal Treatment Tests

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Filed at 5:30 p.m. EDT

By The Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) -- Citing the hazards of poorly tested herbal remedies, one of the nation's most distinguished medical journals says alternative medicines should be subjected to the same rigorous standards as mainstream treatments.

In an editorial, Drs. Marcia Angell and Jerome P. Kassirer of the New England Journal of Medicine argued that testimonials and speculation are no substitute for precise medical evidence that treatments are safe and effective.

``There cannot be two kinds of medicine -- conventional and alternative,'' they wrote in Thursday's issue. ``There is only medicine that has been adequately tested and medicine that has not, medicine that works and medicine that may or may not work.''

Herbal remedies sold as dietary supplements have proliferated since 1994, when Congress exempted them from regulation by the Food and Drug Administration.

The same issue of the journal carried these reports on alternative medicine:

--Doctors from Alberta Children's Hospital in Canada reported two cases in which parents opted to treat their children's cancer with shark cartilage or the herb astragalus instead of standard medicines. In both cases, the cancers progressed, and one child died.

--The California Department of Health Services tested 260 traditional Chinese medicines and found one-third were contaminated with heavy metals, such as lead and arsenic, or pharmaceuticals not listed on the labels.

--Doctors from Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey tested a mixture of eight herbs, sold as PC-SPES, on men with prostate cancer. They found it worked like estrogen, decreasing testosterone and cutting sex drive. While not proving whether it relieves cancer, the study shows the herb blend has potent hormonal effects.

--The FDA described an episode, publicized last year, in which the herb plantain was contaminated with a naturally occurring form of digitalis, a heart stimulant that can cause cardiac arrest.

--A group of doctors from Arizona reported the case of a man found driving erratically after taking a supplement promoted as a way to increase growth hormone. A letter from the manufacturer, RenewTrient Research of Cocoa Beach, Fla., said the man ignored a label warning to take the substance only before sleeping.

``Alternative treatments should be subjected to scientific testing no less rigorous than that required for conventional treatments,'' the journal editorial said.

At the American Council on Science and Health, associate director Jeff Stier said, ``It's good to see that mainstream medicine is coming on board to defend itself'' against unproven treatments.

However, the Council for Responsible Nutrition, which represents supplement makers, defended the law that allowed the pills to come into wider use. It said many of the issues raised by the journal, such as contaminated products, are already covered by federal regulations.

``Broadsides such as the NEJM editorial serve only to confuse the issue by intermingling a variety of topics,'' said a statement by the organization.

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