Guest guest Posted February 6, 2003 Report Share Posted February 6, 2003 Safrole, a component of the volatile oil, has been shown to be hepatocarcinogenic in rats and have carcinogenic potential in human in vitro studies. Dang gui essential oil component contains safrole, a known carcinogen when it is superconcentrated and injected into lab animals. It has never been shown that dang gui itself is carcinogenic. Rou dou kou (nutmeg) also contains safrole as dose sassafras, which has long been banned due to this. However, safrole is alcohol soluble, so it does not come out in water extraction, but is present in alcohol and most liquid and standardized extracts. However, the amounts present in alcohol extracts are no where near the levels injected into rats. Also, injection bypasses the liver, which reduces the toxicity of orally ingested safrole. This is a real risk for the profession, though, as this bogus research has already been used to pull one herb off the market (sassafrass) and thus the FDA has precedent to immediately pull dang gui. Of interest and perhaps the real reason behind this is that safrole is chemically similar to the drug MDMA, also known as ecstacy. MDMA can be made from safrole. Chinese Herbs " Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds " -- Albert Einstein Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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