Why does everyone think natural products are safe?!
Question: Not all natural/herbs products are safe
Answers: Not all natural/herbs products are safe
I do not think that "everyone" thinks that all natural products are safe. Some natural products can have harmful effects if taken improperly, even our every day food can be harmful if not chosen wisely or used moderately.
Fewer of the natural products carry risks than pharmaceutical products and those that do pose risk have to be taken in pretty large doses to cause harm. Most of the natural products are simply food substances that have particular nutritive values,
Almost all pharmaceuticals, while they have their place in treating symptoms, have toxic effects on the liver and kidneys, however mild or severe depends on the drug, many medications also weaken the immune system or have degenerative effects on the body.
As in all things we must be educated caretakers of our bodies and make decisions wisely according to the situation. Do we need something to act fast against an immediate and severe problem? Do we need to restore a depleted body back to wellness? Do we wish to prevent illness? Each need would reqire a different protocol. It is not all or nothing. It is a matter of recognizing that we have many options to choose from and we must be responsible to learn for our own personal conditions what will do the most good and least harm.
You have to know the natural effects of herbs, foods, and natural remedies in order for them to work the proper way. This takes diligence and research, but it is well worth the effort.
Medicine made from laboratories are poisons to the body with certain beneficial side effects. This is why they are not found in nature and have a whole slew of side effects. Medicine has its place, but it is soooooooo overused. Why not try to heal naturally without the side effects, as long as you research properly and even at times seek out proper natural remedy advice from experts?
I have often wondered this myself. I guess it's because some nut job in a health food store with no medical training told them so.
If anyone tells them that natural products are not always safe then they must be getting payoffs from the big evil pharmaceutical companies. It's absurd.
Because they are. Herbs have been used since the beginning of time and have stood the test of time for effectiveness and safety.
Herbs have never caused the side effects, deaths, complications and problems that man made pharmaceutical drugs have. There are even some drugs today that are made from herbs.
There are some herbs that do have specific warnings that they shouldn't be used by some in certain circumstances. ie, pregnant and nursing women. Another example is Echinacea, it's not to be used by people who are allergic to the daisy family and not to be used on a long term basis by those who have autoimmune disorders.
Most all herbs and supplements have been studied and investigated far longer than any pharmaceuticals on the market. Their safety record stands for itself.
I find it pretty stupid that people will question something natural that has been on this earth forever, safety, efficacy, etc., but they will go to the doctor and immediately take what is handed to them, no questions asked.
They are safe as long are in the safe edible category and are not contaminated with, insecticides, pesticides, herbicides, preservatives, bad manures and remember the long and short term effects of genetically altered varieties is unknown
somehow we have come to associate natural with safe even though it often is not so as testing has not been done or recorded. Especially if one is pregnant extra care and attention needed to ensure a good result.
A good reason is a lot of patient medicines have a lot of side affects and only get rid of the symptoms and not the cause plus the chemical companies no longer put a leaflet in with the medicines that tell you the side affects and they also hide the true results of they research.
The medical profession will not allow alternative remedies.
How many times have they knocked back acupuncture and now they are using it.
To a large extent I agree with the argument you are trying to make, but by citing marijuana as evidence you discredit your whole point (the reason being that THC is non toxic to the point it has no LD50, and the only reason it's considered a dangerous drug was because of a massive PR campaign funded by commercial interests which did not want their industries displaced by hemp farming). Ignoring that minor point though, here are my thoughts;
The first problem which comes up is that the term "Natural" is semantically extremely ill defined. There isn't actually a specific meaning or definition attached to it, it's just something people tend to attach to any alternative product so they can feel good about themselves for using it. I've talked to a lot of the top alternative medicine people, and none of them have been able to give me a decent definition either (hence meaning the distinction of "natural" is almost worthless).
However, despite that, it's a very popular brand term, and since the image people have in their heads of something being natural also means it's healthy and safe, anything arbitrarily termed "natural" is also safe.
If you assume "natural" means something created in nature, the definition falls apart, since something as simple as botulism invalidates the entire paradigm.
When you give charity to the people who make this argument though, I tend to interpret it as follows;
If people have been using something for their health which was naturally occurring, and has been used in the culture for generations, then it probably is good for you, whereas many of the modern things being synthetically created these days have never been tested adequetely (and often have misleading corporate funded studies supporting them). Since our modern conditions make it almost impossible to objectively know if a product of science is safe (a point I believe, but you may contest), many advocate instead employing "natural" methods which have been shown to work over a very long time frame without any economic bias behind their efficacy.
Then again, nowadays "natural products" is a huge industry, and many things are being pushed which lack everything I just listed, so it's quite common for a natural product to be completely worthless. I suppose that's just how commercialization works.
You have to be an informed consumer for ALL that you take, standard meds or otherwise.
Look it up online and get the full story, not just from the person selling it.
On the other hand, you can find something negative about almost anything, so you have to weigh that with the good.
Just like with Airbornes, which work well and are dangerous to no one - they got taken off the market just because they had deep pockets and some attorney thought he (or she) could make a few bucks by finding a few fictional plaintiffs.
Very sad.