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<DIV><SPAN class=156083315-03112005>Well, I don't know if FDA-bashing on this
government forum is PC or not, but I agree with you that FDA has shown plenty
of bias over the years, going after safe herbs like ginseng while letting
pharmaceutical drugs with very serious side effects have a pass.
Particularly, since you mention comfrey, they don't like this herb because it
has PAs, yet they announced that if someone came up with a PA-free extract they
would prevent its sale because the absence of the undesirable PAs
made the product a "new dietary ingredient"! If I picked the
nasty little seeds off a strawberry before I sold it, would the juicy part be a
new dietary ingredient? Meanwhile, they are delaying a black-box
warning on ADHD drugs that cause liver failure, because that might discourage
someone somewhere from force-feeding it to her four-year-old. Oh
well.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=156083315-03112005></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=156083315-03112005>As far as I know there is no effort to
overturn the ban on AA-containing plants and I think ABC and AHPA are much too
smart to try. The chance that anyone has ever suffered or would ever
suffer kidney failure from even very-long-term use of a low-AA plant like
wild ginger may be one in a bazillion, but (especially given the potential for
interaction with common pharmaceuticals) it probably is not zero. Wild
ginger has never been a top-selling herb, and it has no culinary or medicinal
benefits that cannot be gained from other plants of unquestionable
safety. Try to overturn that ban, and the anti-herb fanatics can say
"Look, these herbal advocates want to be able to sell you products with
stuff in them that causes kidney cancer!" It's not good press. There
is an organized effort now to do away with one herb after
another (kava, black cohosh) based on idiosyncratic or coincidental case
reports of liver disease, although the products clearly carry no such risks
for most users. Let's fight that battle and not waste
time trying to fight for products whose potential risks for average users
have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=156083315-03112005></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=156083315-03112005>Wendy</SPAN></DIV>
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<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT
face=Tahoma>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> Cafesombra@aol.com
[mailto:Cafesombra@aol.com]<BR><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, November 03, 2005 9:12
AM<BR><B>To:</B> MPWG@lists.plantconservation.org<BR><B>Subject:</B> Re:
[MPWG] A. canadensis re new book and NC Medicinal herb
project<BR><BR></FONT></DIV><FONT id=role_document face=Arial>
<DIV>Thanks for these comments Wendy, good points.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Maybe I am out of it which is likely, but is there any real consolidated
effort to counter these FDA bans? I am sure ABC and AHPA are working
on it, and maybe you or someone can just kindly direct me to a webpage
detailing the efforts. But it is extremely ludicrous to me that FDA is
banning and restricting "toxic" herbs like A. canadensis, Comfrey, Borage and
the like, when they not necessarily banning toxic OTCs and
pharmeceuticals and favorite foods and drugs (tobacco comes to
mind) in similar fashion? I am sure a pharmaceutical exec
would argue that's not true, but seriously is there any real effort going on
to reclaim the use of Borage, Comfrey, etc? I mean seriously, we ought
to ban sugar, high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils etc if we are
worrying about even a miniscule chance of someone getting hurt from ingesting
plant substances known to be potentially dangerous...</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>As for A. canadensis, it's a very good point that anticipating markets
may be misguided. however, anticipating need for the medicine may not be
such a bad idea. Money is useful but it ain't medicine.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Best regards, Jennifer C.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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