Botanical/Herbal Medicines
terrasig | January 21, 2009
Many thanks for some blog publicity go out to Karl Leif Bates, editor of Duke University's online research monthly magazine, Duke Research, and co-founder of Science Communicators of North Carolina (SCONC). Many of you who attended this past weekend's ScienceOnline'09 gathering may recognize Karl as he was in attendance.
Completely independent of any coaxing (Karl was *not* present at my free, Friday Fermentable wine tasting), my post is currently the February 2009 feature on the Duke Research section, Voices: Science in Conversation.
The backstory is that, during our December vacation, we…
terrasig | January 13, 2009I just started receiving a bunch of Google referral hits from readers searching for a story about the US Federal Trade Commission apparently taking regulatory action against a church that is selling supplements claimed to exhibit anti-cancer activities.
The article in question, "Tyrannical FTC Threatens Christian Church with Imprisonment for Selling Dietary Supplements," was written by a gentleman named Mike Adams, an editor at NaturalNews.com. I'm not exactly certain at this point what the specific FTC actions are today since the article is rife with rantings and rhetoric:
The FTC has…
terrasig | December 19, 2008As I mentioned in my intro post to our week in Key West, I was definitely going to make a visit to the Key West Tropical Forest & Botanical Garden. We took the then-PharmToddler there in November 2003 when this gem was just being relaunched after decades of negligence. According to Georgia Tasker at the Miami Herald:
It was begun in the Great Depression days of 1934 by the City of Key West, and built by the WPA at the same time as the city's aquarium. At one point, the garden contained an aviary, hand-made rock walls, green houses and 7,000 plants. It opened in 1936 and flourished for…
terrasig | October 24, 2008"Prescribing 'placebo treatments': results of national survey of US internists and rheumatologists," is the title of a newly-published article in the 23 October issue of BMJ (British Medical Journal). The full text article and PDF are available for free at the time of this posting.
In this study of 679 US physicians, Tilburt et al. reveal that 46-58% of those responding report regularly using some sort of placebo in their practice. The reason for the range is that questions were asked in a manner that did not use the word, "placebo," but instead took into account:
"Placebo treatment" is an…
terrasig | August 20, 2008Many thanks to science and medical senior writer Cathy Arnst of BusinessWeek for the unexpected coverage online a couple of days ago in their Working Parents blog.
Ms Arnst cited Terra Sig and one of our previous posts in discussing the additional FTC settlement funds to be provided by the makers of Airborne for false claims to consumers:
For background on the charges against the product check out the informative blog terra sigillata, by a pharmacologist, which pulls apart false claims made on behalf of natural remedies (in fact, he pulls apart false medical claims in general--a blog worth…
terrasig | June 18, 2008This link is just to quickly follow up on yesterday's post, "FDA Warns Individuals and Firms to Stop Selling Fake Cancer 'Cures'." The US FDA has specifically listed those companies and individuals as well as their specific products that were cited in yesterday's action:
125 Fake Cancer "Cures" Consumers Should Avoid
And for more information to share with your family, friends, patients, colleagues, etc:
Beware of Online Cancer Fraud
This latter post is of great general value for the lay public to detect red flags for fraudulent cancer treatment or prevention products as well as some general…
terrasig | June 12, 2008I'm even later to the game on this story than my blogging colleague, Orac: ERV, Pharyngula, and denialism blog have each given their takes on the Minnesota's plan to authorize NDs, doctors of naturopathy, to use the title of "Doctor."
For two views on what naturopathy is, here is one from the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians and another from Quackwatch. We link - you decide.
As I read the story, it sounds as though the new legislation allows naturopaths to practice without being prosecuted for practicing medicine without a license. No word yet on whether they can be sued…
When medical experimental therapeutics gets co-opted as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)
terrasig | May 8, 2008Sorry to get to this so late but I wanted to weigh on an excellent post from my cancer blogging colleague, Orac, the other day on the investigation of CAM therapies in cancer. The post covers a lot of ground, as expected from any of Orac's exhaustive missives, but I wanted to focus on the comparison and contracts between NIH's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and the Office of Cancer Complementary and Alternative Medicine within the National Cancer Institute (NCI-OCCAM).
I am on record as a strong critic of NCCAM but a supporter of NCI's OCCAM in that the…
terrasig | April 23, 2008Just a little blurb in my local paper this morning that is making a big splash in the stock market: international pharma giant GSK is purchasing Cambridge, MA-based Sirtris Pharmaceuticals Inc. for an estimated US$720 million.
Glaxo plans to bolster its pipeline with Sirtris's experimental biotechnology treatments targeting aging-related diseases.
In early trading, Sirtris shares gained 81.6 percent to $22.21 while Glaxo shares added 19 cents to $43.92.
Apparently I should've gone immediately from my morning bathroom newspaper reading to my online stock purchase website. Instead, you get a…
terrasig | April 14, 2008Apologies in advance for just this quick link, but the topic is very timely given our highly-read post last week suggesting the repeal/modification of DSHEA, the primary US legislation directing the weak oversight of the dietary supplement industry.
Herbal Science International, Inc. and FDA informed consumers and healthcare professionals of a nationwide recall of twelve dietary supplements that contain ephedra, aristolochic acid or human placenta because they may present a serious health hazard to consumers [press release]. FDA has long regarded dietary supplements containing ephedra, a…
terrasig | March 26, 2008No, it's not a song by Foreigner - these are the names of two products "promoted and sold over the Internet for the treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED) and for sexual enhancement."
In yet another instance of a trend that would be comical if not so serious, the US FDA has announced that "Blue Steel" and "Hero" supplements contain chemical relatives of sildenafil, the active constituent of the prescription medication Viagra.
"Because these products are labeled as 'all natural dietary supplements,' consumers may assume that they are harmless and pose no health risk," said Janet Woodcock, M.…
terrasig | March 8, 2008Just a hypothesis here.
A vibrant, 55-year-old Denver-area furniture executive, Lesile Fishbein, is possibly near death according to The Denver Post:
The bubbly Fishbein, one of the most recognizable faces in the metro area because of her television ads for her company, Kacey Fine Furniture, was admitted to Presbyterian/St. Luke's Hospital for emergency treatment on Tuesday. She had been given an injection for chronic back pain and suffered a serious reaction, the friends said. She was later placed on life-support, which was removed Friday evening. [emphasis mine]
The natural product and…
terrasig | March 4, 2008"There's no credible evidence that what's in Airborne can prevent colds or protect you from a germy environment," said CSPI senior nutritionist David Schardt, who reviewed Airborne's claims. "Airborne is basically an overpriced, run-of-the-mill vitamin pill that's been cleverly, but deceptively, marketed."
One really needn't go any further than this money quote from yesterday's press release out of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).
With continuing investigations from the Federal Trade Commission and 24 State Attorneys General, the walls are crumbling down on the makers of…
terrasig | February 25, 2008From today's FDA Digest comes the following notice of action:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced that Brownwood Acres Foods Inc., Cherry Capital Services Inc. (doing business as Flavonoid Sciences) and two of their top executives have signed a consent decree that effectively prohibits the companies and their executives from manufacturing and distributing any products with claims in the label or labeling to cure, treat, mitigate or prevent diseases.
The consent decree of permanent injunction is a result of the companies and their executives making unapproved drug claims and…
terrasig | February 25, 2008[Note: I originally posted this last Thursday under another title but it got lost in other events of that day. As I find it ironic that Mr Comarow has been attacked by an alternative medicine practitioner and advocate, I find this story worthy of reposting.]
A few weeks ago the skeptical blogosphere was up in arms about an article in US News & World Report by Avery Comarow on alternative medicine services in US academic medical centers. Mr Comarow is a senior medical writer for USN&WR and best known as editor for the last 18 years of the magazine's annual feature, America's Best…
terrasig | February 3, 2008
Yesterday was the 1st anniversary of Blogroll Amnesty Day, originally proposed by a reasonably prominent blogger who used the occasion to relieve himself of guilt when purging his blogroll and building back up only a list of those he reads regularly.
I learned via my new homies, PhysioProf and DrugMonkey that Jon Swift and Skippy have proposed this day instead as an opportunity for low-traffic bloggers to blogroll even lower-traffic bloggers to help everyone rise up in notoriety.
Despite being here at ScienceBlogs for 20 months, I have managed to keep my readership to a small but select…
terrasig | February 2, 2008Readers and colleagues often ask why scientists care to blog, especially given increasing time demands and decreasing research funding. For me, the blog is an opportunity to have discussions with colleagues from diverse research areas all around the world. Quite often, I learn something quite new that I would not normally encounter in my chosen field of cancer pharmacology.
A case in point stems from a reader comment by Dr Italo MR Guedes, a Brazilian soil scientist who writes the blog, Geófagos (Google Translate works well enough unless, of course, you are already fluent in Portuguese).…
terrasig | January 28, 2008If you read nothing else: Men with prostate cancer should avoid any dietary supplement containing testosterone (or anything that sounds like it) or that offers claims of increased virility, sexual performance, or increased muscle mass.
Consumption of a herbal/hormone dietary supplement has been linked to two cases of aggressive prostate cancer as reported in a paper in the 15 January issue of Clinical Cancer Research (abstract free; full paper paywalled) . The observations and follow-up studies were conducted by urologists at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and Baylor…
terrasig | January 4, 2008I'm very excited to announce to Terra Sig readers the kickoff of a new group blog called Science Based Medicine. Yes, it may sound odd that one would need to preface "Medicine" with the qualifier, "Science-Based," but therein lies the goal of this new resource from its mission statement:
Safe and effective health care is critical to to everyone's quality of life; so much so that it is generally considered a basic human right. The best method for determining which interventions and health products are safe and effective is, without question, good science. Therefore it is in everyone's best…
terrasig | December 5, 2007Yet another example in today's press about dietary supplements contaminated, intentionally or accidentally, with prescription or unapproved drugs - in this case, anabolic steroids showing up in about 20% of supplements tested.
I was asked by a major news organization if this is the first time that anabolic steroids have been found in supplements. Nope, look at this FDA action from March 2004 or March 2006.
Ugggh, this is a very old story that I've discussed here many times, mostly relative to erectile dysfunction supplements:
Potentially life-threatening adulteration of erectile dysfunction…