Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Why Herbs Are Better than Synthetic Drugs

By Dr. PharmTao

Herbs have been used for centuries by people around the world. They may be the oldest “evidence-based medicine.” Herbal remedies have been recorded to cure all kinds of diseases for billions of people as a critical therapeutic method in many cultures. These cultures include Native American, European, Egyptian, Hebrew, Indian, and Chinese.

Currently to approve a new synthetic drug, the drug needs to go through clinical trials with a certain number of selected subjects for several years. The side effects of many of such drugs are undetected until they have been used by a larger population for a longer period of time. Many drugs have been withdrawn from the market after such broader usages because of their high toxicity. However, herbs have been tested by generations and generations of people for thousands of years, and their effects from various aspects have been very well documented, such as those in Chinese medicine. So clinically speaking, we actually have more knowledge about herbs than most of the newly approved synthetic drugs.

More about herbs and drugs here...