suppliers

[Guest guest]

Since Mayway was mentioned by name in a post about mu tong, I think it

is reasonable to let them respond. I also think we should be careful

about making statements that may injur a company economically without

verifying the statement in advance. It may be instructive to remind

people that the laws surrounding email are still evolving, but basically

they are treated like a public statement when made in a group forum such

as this. As such, these statements are potentially subject to libel

laws. Whatever the truth of the matter, it remains unclear whether the

herb in question is mu tong or guang mu tong. Let me give another

example why. TCM doctors from China are not generally trained in herb

ID. When Andy Ellis documented some incorrect herb substitutions in the

early nineties, one of the most blatant errors was the use of radix

serrulata instead of rhizoma cimicifuga for sheng ma. Now these herbs

look completely different and no ID mistake is possible. Serrulata is

used in south China as sheng ma for measles, but it is not the sheng ma

of bu zhong yi qi tang fame (in fact, the north-south disparity in this

example also lends credence to Alisa's claim). When I tried to change

our pharmacy stock to include cimicifuga, the chinese docs (in 1995)

were surveyed by the clinic director. they all identified serrulata as

sheng ma, though this is undeniably incorrect and could be easily

demonstrated with color photos from Chinese textbooks. when I pressed

confidentially about this discrepancy, one of the professors admitted I

was right, but to admit this now would be to lose face. So who is

right? We are clearly past the point where human senses can be trusted

on this matter (of aristolochia). That is why I support the use of

COA's instead of faulty visual ID.