Subject: Understanding herbal medicine

From: [email-masked] (Tony Halmarack)
Date: Sat, 07 Oct 1995 09:36:58 +0100

Hi Herby Folks,

Please excuse my self indulgence, I feel a kind of wordy, writing urge 
coming on. Perhaps it's the latest herbal tea recipe I gleaned from this 
newsgroup, or maybe some of the flowers I've been smelling.

I've been actively interested in herbs for a long time, though seeing them 
only as a quirky alternative to mainstream medicine.
Lately though, I've been reading some extra-disturbing things about the 
pharmaceutical industry. It seems that several companies have been buying 
up genetic data that originated from publicly funded research and are 
keeping the most useful information secret, to give them a "competitive edge" 
(big profits for short).

While I'm not so naive as to be surprised by the profit motive, I don't 
ever remember it being quite so overt and clearly against the public interest.
If the mask is really coming off, then can we expect announcements that work 
on cures is being sidetracked in favour of control drugs, turning the sick into 
a herd of profitable "Milch Cows" rather than healthy individuals?

"Zantac" the acid inhibiting, anti-ulcer drug was reported as an all time, 
big profit best seller for Glaxo a couple of years ago. Being ever fashion 
conscious, I took a lot of these. Then round about the time that the chemical 
patents for "Zantac" were due to run out, reports began to surface that the 
hyper-acidity associated with stomach ulcers was due to infection by the 
bacterium Helicobactor pylori. Soon it became apparant that a sure-fire way of 
getting rid of this infection was to take high doses of a potent combination of 
metal salts and anti-biotics.

I requested this new treatment from my GP and got it. Believe me, it was not a 
pleasant experience. Though I've read about the historic treatment of 
infections like Syphilis with Mercury and it's consequent effects, I thought 
those days were long gone. I don't want to exaggerate; after all, my lower jaw 
didn't drop off and I didn't lose all my hair as was often the case with mercury 
treatment. I do believe that when I swallowed those pills, I took a journey into 
the realms of barbaric medicine though.

Now, comprehensive genetic data on Helicobactor pylori, also owned by 
Glaxo-Wellcome has been sold to Astra a Swedish pharmaceutical company that makes 
anti-ulcer drugs. So, can I, the long suffering, biological chemical factory that 
turns stomach acid into big profits, expect immanent retirement from the project? 
Or am I about to come on stream using a palliative money-spinner with a 
treatment schedule that makes the run of the"Mouse Trap" seem like a one day event? 

If so, is there a herbal alternative?
-- 
Tony Halmarack