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From: jeff
Date: 03/13/01
Time: 12:49:26
With regard to herbs and other traditional remedies:
What was the life expectancy in China between 3000 and 100 years ago? What is the life expectancy in China now? Etc, etc, etc.
Herbal remedies are simply not as effective as modern medicine. Modern medicine doesn't work for everybody. That doesn't mean traditional remedies are better. Traditional remedies have a terrible track record compared to modern drugs, as demonstrated by the dramatically increased life expectancy over the last 100 years.
You complain that overuse of antibiotics is creating resistent bacteria. That is certainly true. However, before penicillin people commonly died of what would be considered a minor infection today. If you were unlucky, you could die of a paper cut. Herbs, or other traditional remedies wouldn't have helped you.
Am I scared of herbs? Not really, but I don't see why anybody should count on herbs to cure them, and without documentation of effectiveness, why should I incur unknown risks? One of the things the FDA does is evaluate drugs compared to placebos. It is a well known phenomenon that many people will be "cured" by placebos, or at least think that they are cured. So it is only to be expected that people claim to be "cured" by herbs, even if the herbs are no better than placebos.
Now, if herbs work for you, you should keep taking them. But, statistically speaking, a person suffering from an illness is more likely to be cured by a legitimate drug.