Saturday Quack – “Natural” Means Safe

I get angry when I read of people who prefer herbs and biopharmaceuticals to medicines. This is what Dr Jerome Groopman said in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece: “The widespread misconception among the public is that what is ‘natural’ is necessarily salubrious and safe, while in fact, the natural world is filled with poisons and toxins. Some of those natural poisons, of course, can be used therapeutically: Two of the most important chemotherapy drugs, vincristine and taxol, are derived, respectively, from the periwinkle plant and the Pacific yew tree. . . .

“One ‘natural’ alternative was an extract from a Chinese cucumber termed compound Q. It was imported from Asia and taken by a number of desperate AIDS patients based on testimonials that it could eradicate HIV. The fact that the cucumber extract was used as an abortifacient in China seemed not to register, until several patients developed severe toxic reactions, including coma. Physicians and researchers who challenged compound Q were vilified as being ignorant, wed to the pharmaceutical-medical complex, or envious that a cure had arrived from outside of ‘mainstream’ medicine”.

If you are still dazzled by the advantages of ‘natural’, remember that Deadly Nightshade and the castor bean – i.e. ricin – are ‘natural’ products.