A customer sent the following letter (after initially looking through this website):
Hi--
Your product is excellent and I have used it often. But after reading the articles you sent in your email, I have to say they are far too absolutist. Herbs have been used as medicine for thousands of years, long before modern chemistry. They have been used by indigenous peoples, and still are.
You give a list in the report of herbs that can be dangerous--almost no herb is left off the list! At the end of the list you cite WebMD, a website that operates from the perspective of diagnosing disease, not healing modalities. This is a form of coercion, to me--scare tactics that are not proven, though they do support western medical practice and theories.
To my mind, western medicine is a triumph when it comes to trauma care, and a travesty when it come to healing, for it promotes prescriptions and drugs instead of far milder and often successful herb--based remedies. This rejection of herbs outright in the article is a form of protective dogma I simply find rather ludicrous. We are part of the earth and its ecosystem--and plants are not our enemy. I agree that there are charlatans out there advertising supplements that can be harmful, but statistically, far more people die from doctor-based (and pharmaceutical company-based) prescriptions than from herbal supplements--at least in these United States.
In no way would I suggest people use herbal remedies without caution, but I can say right now that I would rather use them than follow the average doctor's orders, knowing as I do that doctors and most healthcare professionals rarely have any background in what the body needs to heal nor any in-depth awareness of herbal reactive properties--it isn't part of their medical studies or outlook--and they have generally little discernment regarding what drug salesmen tell them to use, as the current opioid epidemic and crisis has revealed. Their outlook is symptomatic, not preventative.
That said--I know your product is good and will continue to purchase it--I came to it after studying British medical practices where sulfate-based glucosamine is the norm. Thus I learned HCL was not beneficial. But your diatribe against natural medicine seems to me to be way off the charts.
Regards,
RC
Rhinebeck, NY
a) generally only the 'trained' (healers/Shaman) 'prescribed' the herbs/medicine, and defined the dosage based on their experience and training (not some high school student, college kid, or non-medically trained person perscribing or 'doctoring,' which is what you find in most 'herbal' shops and retail stores in main stream America these days. Most of those people are completely unaware of the differences in calcium, much less any other nutrients, or ingredients they are promoting). That's frankly more dangerous than a used car salesman that can't drive!
b) there was a consistency and awareness in the preparation of their 'formulas' and 'treatment' protocols that was also based on some key factors, such as a consistent receipt, and the reality that they knew their concoction would be potentially used by THEMSELVES, and their loved ones... and it was made 'right then' - not usually weeks, months, years in advance... or with any regard to 'shelf life' or 'storage' (as that was drastically limited, other than 'dried' (which still have shelf-life/potency issues).
c) there is also the reality that many 'treatments' prior to modern medicine were a failure, in many instances only limited the pain... but never really treated the disease or cured the problem. Remember, some cultures believe that rhino horn is an effective treatment for certain issues, despite some absolute science proving it's a myth. There are some tribes in Africa thought herbs could prevent or cure AIDES (which failed). During a recent SARS epidemic, traditional chinese medicine practitioners involved, characterized patients based on nosological categories including “deficiency of chi and yin” as well as “stagnation of pathogenic phlegm.” Consider how ineffective that was.