Another Biased Headline

“Researcher Warns on Herbal Medicines”

(http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/08/2813236.htm)

Looking at the above headline, what thoughts enter your head?  Obviously it is an attempt to ingrain into the public mind that herbal medicines are dangerous per se.  Sadly, that’s not what the article says.

A forensic pathologist thinks some people’s embarrassment about taking herbal medicines can leave them vulnerable to taking a lethal cocktail of drugs.

Professor Roger Byard of Adelaide University has published a research paper on the dangers of herbal medicines when taken in large quantities, injected or combined with use of prescription drugs.

He has found it can lead to serious illnesses, worsen pre-existing conditions or cause death.

Professor Byard says people are often reluctant to tell their doctor they are taking herbal medicines for fear of ridicule, but it can be a fatal mistake.

“Although obviously a number of herbal substances are quite safe, you don’t know what’s in the package sometimes and there may be interactions, so it is important to talk to your doctor,” he said.

He says his research was sparked by the death of a young man who had injected a Chinese medicine chan su, which contains a toxin from toads.

“The materials that can be added include heavy metals, there’ve been cases of mercury poisoning and arsenic poisoning, lead poisoning, also sometimes the manufacturers will add western pharmaceutical agents, so they’ll add drugs that we manufacture to the herbal medicines to actually increase their effect,” he said.