-- [ From: Kathryn P. Rosenthal * EMC.Ver #2.5.3 ] --

Hi, Ken.  You wrote a note to the list re. my offer to looks up herbs in
 "The Complete German Commission E Monographs Therapeutic Guide to
Herbal Medicines."

You said:
>
> I appreciate your offer to the list... but shouldn't we start with why
we should believe anything in the book?
>
Sure.  I've been using various herbs/flowers/bark etc. for the last 15
yrs or so.  The source I have used for safety and reliability of the
herbs has been Dr. Varro E. Tyler, PhD, ScD, Dean and Distringuished
Professor of  Pharmacognosy Emeritus, School of Pharmacy and Pharmacal
Sciences at Purdue Univ.  I noticed that Dr. Tyler often refered in his
books to the German E. monographs.  After getting the info. 2nd hand
from Dr. Tyler's books, I was very happy to find that the American
Botanical Council had made an English translation of the monographs last
year and even happier that a friend bought the book and I didn't need to
pay for it.

From the book's foreword:

"In 1978... the German Federal Health Agency established an expert
committee on herbal remedies... to evaluate the safety and efficacy of
phytomedicines.  This so-called 'CommissionE' included physicians,
pharmacists, pharmacologists, toxicologists, representatives of the
pharmaceutical industry, and lay persons."

"Unlike the United States Food and Drug Administration which evaluates
drugs only in a passive manner based on data supplied by the
manufacturer, Commission E actively checks so-called bibliographic data
independently.  Such data include information obtained from clinical
trials, field studies, collections of single cases, scientific
literature including facts published in the standard reference works,
and expertise of medical associations.  If controlled clinical data are
lacking, safety and efficacy can still be determined on the basis of
information in the literature, the presence of supplemental data
supporting clinical results, and significant experimental studies
supporting traditional use."

Well, the system probably isn't perfect, but it sure beats people
walking into a health food store and reading labels not knowing any of
the side effects or contraindications of the herbs they buy.  I have
always thought of herbs as "green medicine" and like to take a few
precautions.  And I wish that more attention was paid in the U.S. to
side effects from herbs.  For example, the effect echinacea has on
people with auto-immune diseases.  I believe that a lot of people are
buying and ingesting herbs who have no idea the actions those herbs are
taking on their bodies.

Kath