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learned which plants would yield the healing properties he needed by
observing them and the animals that used them; and by his own trial and
error. What he probably didn’t understand was that the plants
had a unique biological structure that would assimilate easily into his
own biological makeup. Included in their structure are
constituents and one of
them, the active principle, has the main action that will do the work
needed to
heal. Sometimes though, the active principle can cause side effects and
that
is why Aspirin, which was originally derived from willow bark, causes
stomach
problems among other side effects.
The
active ingredient, salicylate, was first isolated by
Leroux in 1829 and in 1860 it was chemically synthesized as salicylic
acid by
Kolbe. Later, a man
called Hoffman who
worked for the German company, Bayer, created acetylsalicylic acid,
which was
introduced in 1899 and popularly accepted.
In willow bark Mother Nature has provided other
constituents, which work
to counteract the side effects of salicylate.
The herb does not taste very good but there are ways to
make it more
palatable.
Unfortunately,
the many drugs that have been made by
synthetically copying the active ingredients of herbs have some serious
side
effects, which makes one wonder if science would have done mankind a
kindness
by making drugs solely from the herb.
Their argument is that such plant drugs would not be
strong enough and
that is understandable in some situations, however, there are many
conditions
that can be successfully treated by herbs in their entirety and that is
when
herbal medicine is out on its own.
Why
herbal medicine?
Because it is far safer than any
chemical medication, has no side effects when correctly prescribed,
assimilates
easily into the human/animal body just as food does, is cost effective,
extremely successful in healing most conditions and last but by no
means least
it is our birth right – no pharmaceutical company is allowed
to
patent herbs
and this is why they go to such great lengths to isolate and synthesise
the
active ingredients, which they can patent and sell to the sick. After
thousands of years herbs still grow and their healing properties are
still available to
us – it is our choice.
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