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

Hi.  Julie wrote:
>
> Sassafras tea tastes amazingly like rootbeer-- in fact I think that
sassafras
> root is the ingredient that "root" beer is made from, but I'm not sure
..

Could be...but there is a downside to sassafras.  Dr. Varro E. Tyler
included it in his books, "The Honest Herbal" and "Herbs of Choice."  Dr
. Tyler is pretty much the leading herb guru in the U.S.; he bases a lot
of his comments on the German E Commission's research.

According to Dr. Tyler, sassafras is a new world plant that has been
used for syphilis, typhus, dropsy, skin diseases, etc., but is very
unsafe.  The volatile oil consists of about 80% safrole, which "for
years it was a valued flavoring agent in root beer and similar beverages
.  But as a result of research conducted in the early 1960s, safrole was
recognized as a carcinogenic agent in rats and mice." *  ....."sassafras
continues to be collected, used, sold, and written about as an herbal
remedy.  No one really knows just how harmful it is to human beings, but
it has been estimated that one cup of strong sassafras tea could contain
as much as 200 mg. of safrole, more than four times the miminal amount
believed hazardous to man if consumed on a regular basis." **

Dr. Tyler concludes a lengthly discussion of sassafras by saying, "In
spite of its pleasant flavor and its folkloric reputation as a useful
tonic, prudent people will avoid this drug because of its potentially
harmful qualities."

*    IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of the Carcinogenic Risk of
Chemicals to Man 1: 169-174, 1972

**   A. B. Segelman, F. P. Segelman, J. Karliner, and D. Sofia:  Journal
of the American Medical Association 236: 477, 1976