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“If a serious side effect occurred in one in a thousand recipients of an herb, or even one in a hundred, no individual herbalist would be likely to detect it. If a patient died, they would be more likely to attribute the cause to other factors than to herbs that they believed were safe. Even with prescription drugs, widespread use regularly uncovers problems that were not detected with pre-marketing studies…When you take an herbal remedy, you are taking
1. An active ingredient that usually has not been adequately tested,
2. Other components that have not even been identified, much less tested,
3. An uncertain amount, and
4. Possible contaminants.
The term “street drugs” comes to mind: you don’t really know what you’re getting.”
Harriet Hall MD, Science Based Medicine (30th March 2011)