5 ms·

like snake oil ?

Ovah 5y ago
"A full 40 percent of the drugs behind the pharmacist’s counter in the Western world are derived from plants that people have used for centuries, including the top 20 best selling prescription drugs in the United States today. For example, quinine extracted from the bark of the South American cinchona tree (Cinchona calisaya) relieves malaria, and licorice root (Glycyrrhiza glabra) has been an ingredient in cough drops for more than 3,500 years." https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/ethnobotany/medicinal/index.shtml https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/ethnobotany/medicinal/inde...
- Consultant32452 5y ago
  Medical errors are the third leading cause of death. We like to imagine we’ve come a long way from treating ghosts in your blood with cocaine, but we haven’t. https://www.bmj.com/content/353/bmj.i2139 https://www.bmj.com/content/353/bmj.i2139
  - gowld 5y ago
    That's a very misleading summary. "Leading causes of death could be prevented by more perfect medical response" is a better summary.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - teh_infallible 5y ago
      “Leading causes of death” being medical incompetence, which is the third largest cause of death in the US
- rmah 5y ago
  A full 100% of the drugs sold today are manufactured using only ingredients found in nature! <sarcasm>
  - Ovah 5y ago
    (I'm aware of the sarcasm tag). Technically that 100% should be 99.999%. Not all drugs are found in nature. Technetium, a man-made compound, is used in some radiology. https://go.drugbank.com/categories/DBCAT001978 https://go.drugbank.com/categories/DBCAT001978
    - LeifCarrotson 5y ago
      No, technetium is still a natural product, it just takes a little processing. An organic miner dug up some raw uranium ore, then someone refined it, irradiated it, and isolated the resulting molybdenum-99, and finally a radiologist extracts the all-natural technetium from the decay process of that molybdenum.
      - qwertywert_ 5y ago
        Natural = found in nature.
        simplify 5y ago
        You can argue that, and I might agree with it, but it's not regulated as such.
        LeifCarrotson 5y ago
        It is found in nature, it just has a slightly different number of protons when it's raw.
        qwertywert_ 5y ago
        I know what you mean, but it's just the definition of natural at least on our "earth". If you find some technetium somewhere let me know.
burkaman 5y ago
"we shouldn't dismiss" means we should try them and see if they work, not just automatically assume they work or automatically dismiss them as snake oil.

like snake oil ?

Ovah 5y ago

"A full 40 percent of the drugs behind the pharmacist’s counter in the Western world are derived from plants that people have used for centuries, including the top 20 best selling prescription drugs in the United States today. For example, quinine extracted from the bark of the South American cinchona tree (Cinchona calisaya) relieves malaria, and licorice root (Glycyrrhiza glabra) has been an ingredient in cough drops for more than 3,500 years." https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/ethnobotany/medicinal/index.shtml https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/ethnobotany/medicinal/inde...

Consultant32452 5y ago
Medical errors are the third leading cause of death. We like to imagine we’ve come a long way from treating ghosts in your blood with cocaine, but we haven’t. https://www.bmj.com/content/353/bmj.i2139 https://www.bmj.com/content/353/bmj.i2139
- gowld 5y ago
  That's a very misleading summary. "Leading causes of death could be prevented by more perfect medical response" is a better summary.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - teh_infallible 5y ago
    “Leading causes of death” being medical incompetence, which is the third largest cause of death in the US
rmah 5y ago
A full 100% of the drugs sold today are manufactured using only ingredients found in nature! <sarcasm>
- Ovah 5y ago
  (I'm aware of the sarcasm tag). Technically that 100% should be 99.999%. Not all drugs are found in nature. Technetium, a man-made compound, is used in some radiology. https://go.drugbank.com/categories/DBCAT001978 https://go.drugbank.com/categories/DBCAT001978
  - LeifCarrotson 5y ago
    No, technetium is still a natural product, it just takes a little processing. An organic miner dug up some raw uranium ore, then someone refined it, irradiated it, and isolated the resulting molybdenum-99, and finally a radiologist extracts the all-natural technetium from the decay process of that molybdenum.
    - qwertywert_ 5y ago
      Natural = found in nature.
      - simplify 5y ago
        You can argue that, and I might agree with it, but it's not regulated as such.
      - LeifCarrotson 5y ago
        It is found in nature, it just has a slightly different number of protons when it's raw.
        qwertywert_ 5y ago
        I know what you mean, but it's just the definition of natural at least on our "earth". If you find some technetium somewhere let me know.

burkaman 5y ago

"we shouldn't dismiss" means we should try them and see if they work, not just automatically assume they work or automatically dismiss them as snake oil.