Drug Companies Use Natural Cures to Design New Drugs

[Guest guest]

http://www.healthliesexposed.com/articles/article_2006_02_25_4657.shtml Drug Companies Use Natural Cures to Design New Drugs2/24/06 Author: Shane Ellison, M.Sc. Source: www.healthmyths.netBy Shane Ellison, M.Sc.Health Myths Exposed © 2005www.healthmyths.net Most medical doctors are hostile toward the use of nutritionalsupplements. They parrot that they are ineffective and possiblydangerous due to a lack of scientific evidence supporting them. Nottrue. Mountains of evidence exist. And it points to some fascinating andhighly effective nutritional supplements. To obtain new drugs, pharmaceutical chemists, like myself, rigorouslystudy nutritional supplements (i.e. natural products). Once a singleactive ingredient is identified a chemist makes a "copy-cat." The drugcompany then calls it their own. Simply put, if the study of nutritionalsupplements did not exist then drugs would not be possible. -Most every drug sold today has a natural-based predecessor. Drugcompanies and medical doctors obfuscate this historical fact. They likepatients to think that drugs are intuitively invented out of thin air.This helps foster the very profitable belief that drugs are the onlyoption for health. Understanding that nutritional supplements guide drugdevelopment will allow you more choices in health care – inexpensiveand safe ones. Consider the following examples:-Pseudoephedrine is an ingredient found in over-the-counter cough syrup.It is a knock-off of the active ingredients found in "Mormon tea." In2004, the Annals of Emergency Medicine noted that pseudoephedrine is sodamaging to the heart that it can elicit a heart attack among users –even healthy ones. In sharp contrast, naturally-occurring Mormon tea canbe safely used as a cough suppressant. Today however, it is black listedwhile pseudoephedrine remains on the shelves of every corner grocerystore in America. -Ritalin and many other stimulants are knock-offs of the activeingredients found in ma huang AKA ephedra. Ritalin is an amphetamine. Assuch, it can cause addiction and brain cell death. Despite falsepropaganda, Ma huang is a safe and effective stimulant that increasesmental focus without damaging the body. Ma huang is black listed whileRitalin is dispensed to children. -Cholesterol-lowering drugs (Lipitor, Zocor, Pravachol, ect) known asstatins are knock-offs of the natural ingredient found in red yeastrice. Akin to the drugs, red yeast rice can dangerously lowercholesterol and CoQ10 levels within your body. Like statins, it is notadvisable to use red yeast rice to lower cholesterol. Both are poisons. -As a side note, if cholesterol-lowering drugs were the billion dollarpanacea that drug companies claim them to be, we could all eat red yeastrice at a fraction of the cost. Unfortunately, they are not. Aspirin™, the drug that your doctor tells you to take EVERYDAY, is aknock-off of the active ingredient found in white willow bark. The sideeffects of Aspirin™ are so severe that they can cause a higher deathrate relative to the populations who do not take it. Rarely broughtto the attention of users, aspirin depletes the body of the essentialnutrient folic acid. White willow bark is virtually unknown yet remainsa safe and effective alternative to Aspirin™ for pain relief and anypurported cardiovascular benefits. -The list goes on…Most would be shocked to know that even painkillersand anticancer drugs were derived from natural sources:-The tiny family of prescription pain killers used by doctors are knockoffs of the natural ingredients found in opium. Naturally occurringopium is safer and less addictive than the fast-acting drug knock-offsmorphine, codeine, and oxycodone.-Baicalein, an anti-cancer drug used among those who suffer fromleukemia, is a knock-off of the active ingredient found in the roots ofChinese skullcap (Scuterllaria baicalensis). Chinese skullcap is a safeand effective natural cancer fighter that induces cell suicide(apoptosis) among leukemia-derived cancer cells. -There are life-saving distinctions between a drug and its natural-basedpredecessor. A prescription drug is a single isolate. A nutritionalsupplement contains a multitude of active substances. This distinctionmakes drugs more dangerous and less effective than nutritionalsupplements. -As a single isolate, a drug does not target the underlying cause ofillness. It only masks symptoms. Further, a drug isolate has no"buffers" to offset negative side-effects. In sharp contrast,nutritional supplements utilize an array of ingredients to attack theillness at its core while striving to mitigate negative side-effects. If safe and effective, then why don't drug companies distributenutritional supplements? The answer is very simple. They clash with the drug-company business model. Natural medicine cannotbe patented and subsequently monopolized. Only dangerous, man-madeprescription drugs carry patent rights. And this is what satisfies adrug company's voracious appetite for wealth. -Patent rights allow for checkbook science (the practice of funding,designing and interpreting the results of drug research), exclusivityand inflated prices. Add to that an army of good-looking, slick andfoolish thinking sales reps and you have the world's most successfulbusiness model – corporate drug dealing. While profitable, this modelis currently killing an estimated 200,000 people every year. -Face the facts: Those who adhere to Western Medicine are stuck withrisky and expensive counterfeits of Mother Nature. Those who embraceMother Nature by choosing nutrition are able to use natural cureswithout risking their lives.-About the Author:Shane holds a Master's degree in organic chemistry and has first handexperience in drug design. Abandoning his career as a medicinal chemist,he is dedicated to stopping prescription drug hype. He is aninternationally recognized authority on therapeutic nutrition and authorof Health Myths Exposed and The Hidden Truth about Cholesterol-LoweringDrugs. His books and 6 months of FREE Life Saving Health Briefs can befound at www.healthmyths.net!