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[Guest guest]

, " BARRY THORNE " <naturec@m...>

wrote:

 

They proclaim inherent

> dangers of interacting with heart medication and of bleeding during

surgery

> and other invasive techniques that cause bleeding.

 

 

this is a risk which can be documented with medline citations, not just

quackbuster propaganda. it is different from the ma huang issue which

usually centers around the existence of an undiagnosed heart defect which

leads to a heart attack in the presence of ma huang. Gingko is not really

a risk for surgery as the physicians can control this matter around the

time of surgery the same way they control whether you eat 24 hours before.

It is however a real risk for those who may self medicate with gingko

while on drugs like coumadin. The ma huang risk is much more serious

because of its unpredictability in certain susceptible young people.

 

I do not think there is a real concern about gingko being removed from the

market given that the risk can be as reasonably controlled for this herb

as it can be for aspirin, which has a similar risk profile, i.e. with

proper labeling. I am familiar with the quackbuster organizations you

describe, but ironically these organizations are mostly out of sync with

recent economic policy of the past 2 decades. In that time we have seen

decreased regulation to the point where a public health hazard has been

created, albeit a small one. But not so small if your teenager dies from

it.

 

It is republicans who are the main supporters of the supplement industry

and democrats who often try to get the FDA to clamp down. The democrats,

for better or worse, are not really in a strong bargaining position right

now. And trial lawyers and physicians concerned about loss of economic

pie are not really given much credence either in washington these days. I

think these quackbusters are just a lot of bluster anymore. I am much

more concerned that the current hawking of health supplements has an eerie

resemblance to the era of patent medicines at the turn of the 20th century.

I have no doubt that some large corporations would have any problem

sucking as much money out of this market as possible even if the whole

thing collapses down the road like enron. I just don't think this issue

is black and white, thus intelligent moderate regulation crafted with our

input may prevent the extremism of both corporate profiteers and big

brother.

 

Personally I believe that education is indeed the longterm solution for

this issue as well as much of the so-called drug war. However hysteria is

sending legislators overboard in those rare areas where they can arouse

public sentiment (the ma huang issue is thus much more prominent than the

gingko one will ever be until people's kids start dropping off from

indiscriminate use). If we don't intervene any way we can, then it will

be too late. To say we should not seek professional exemptions from

inevitable legislation regarding ma huang that we do not have near the

power to fight head on is like saying we shouldn't pass medical marijuana

laws to exempt the ill from the hysteria aimed at recreational users

because we cannot legalize it outright. But ma huang really has no

legitimate recreational value that anyone in our field can condone, while

substances like cannabis and psilocybin have long histories of ritual use.

I don't think society will lose anything by restrictions on ma huang

such as those crafted in suffolk since it really cannot be used safely by

laypeople (it may often lead to death, but it always does damage to qi and

yin when misused for energy or weight loss). these restrictions will also

prevent the unscrupulous from preying on the obese with ma huang

containing products. If the downside is some mythical slippery slope of

total materia medica bans, I just don't buy that argument. All I have

seen over the years is a fairly measured response by the FDA on such

issues. I have reported for years that my contacts there would be glad to

craft regulations that would grant us exemptions and this may be just such

an indication we can work with regulators to protect the public and our

materia medica.

 

 

Chinese Herbs

 

 

" Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre

minds " -- Albert Einstein