If herbal remedies are so great and have been used for so long, why don't they get the attention they deserve?
Posted by pano | Under Medicinal Herbs Tuesday Sep 7, 2010Is all this a hoax by the herb companies, or are they truly remarkable plants and it’s just that the giant pharmaceutical companies just dominate and squelch any hopes of the herbs to gain near the popularity?
Because the regular medicine is a huge mega million industry with top people & governments involved……….just like the tabacco industry which all governments know is harmful yet don’t ban it completely…..Herbal medicines a re much cheaper and would not bring in the millions these medicines do…..what a shame peoples health is compramised for money……..
Maybe they dont give the instant result that people want.
Herbs specifically plants are what many of our conventional remedies are, or at least were, made of.
Though herbs are good and often safer or less harsh on the system than conventional medicines (which are made up of synthetics & dangerous chemicals) they’re only a temporary & not a permanent remedy for a condition.
For instance I received assistance from this herbalist who had an elderly customer whose son would purchase herbs to relieve arthritis symptoms and he did this once a yr. for his mother. So people sometimes have to be in it for the long haul for chronic conditions but the upside is it’s cheaper and sometimes safer.
P.S. orthodox medicine cannot make money if patients are self-sufficient, or well due to using herbs or an herbal remedy. Orthodox or conventional western medicine is a business, it’s not about helping individuals be healthy.
The FDA and pharamaceutical companies have been trying for decades to "dominate and squelch" the use of herbs.
But I am confused as to what you mean by popularity. Herbs have been used in every culture for centuries. They laid the foundation for all chemical pharmeceutical products which, today, either contain actual compounds from herbs or chemical reproductions of compounds from herbs.
There are thousands of books written on the subject of herbal medicine and there are herbal practioners, still today in every culture around the world. Many people grow medicinal herbs in their home gardens or wildcraft them from local woods and fields.
Herbal products are sold in thousands of stores around the U.S. I believe they are quite popular and have been for centuries, long before the advent of pharmaceutical companies.
Most herbal remedies are not addictive as are many pharmaceutical drugs and most do not offer an instant relief from symptoms that many modern people crave without regard for their actual healts. Most herbs have a gentle action that restores the body to health. While the relief that comes from herbal medicine is usually more long term, it rarely occurs instantly.
They do, just not in Western Medicine
Well most people especially in highly industrialized countries, such as this one, are too easily convinced by the quick fix. TV, magazine and radio ads blasts miracle cures for every thinkable ailment and people believe it. Unfortunately, many people in the Western World like "modern" things that are shiny, attractive and fast. They’d rather buy cold medicine then buy lemon, ginger and honey to make a tea but that’s only one example! Everything has to do with diet-if people paid more attention to what they were putting into their mouths, they wouldn’t have to worry about pills, syrups and prescriptions.
I think you are kinda behind the times. There are many alternative therapies and healing
modalities that are used today…with great
success. Most people who care about their
health already know about them. You must
equate popularity with being a worthwhile
healing method. Sorry, the best remedies for healing the body are not on the evening news and hyped in every magazine. They are time-honored treatments that have been
around for 100s of years.
Close to half of the regular drugs made by the pharmaceutical companies are derived from plants. The plants have been tested to isolate the active ingredient and that ingredient is in the medicine. So herbs do get attention.
The USA congress passed a law about 15 years ago excepting "dietary supplements" from regulation by the FDA. They not have to provide any evidence that they work. They do not have to meet the same requirements that processed foods do, for example contain what the label says they contain or be manufactured in sanitary conditions.
Herbal manufacturers took advantage of this law and began to market various herbs as dietary supplements. No need to meet any government regulations and they could claim all kinds of effects. The profits to be made are enormous, the herbal/supplement business is over $6 billion in the USA. And that is why we see so many herbals advertised now compared to twenty years ago.