The poison that Traditional Chinese Medicine can be

On the topic of TCM again, many people tend to assume that the herbs used in chinese medicine, of which many are plants, are safe. Many tend to associate natural products as safe and that man-made chemicals are always bad. Nothing can be further away from the truth. The only way to know if these herbs are safe is to test them. Some may think that since many others have taken these herbs previously, the safety of these herbs should be apparent. However, I would like to quote Dr Ng Eng Hen "The relationship is not so simple".

There are many reasons why toxicity associated with plants often escape, well, association with the plant. For example, the effects of toxicity may be cumulative and only show up after prolonged usage of the causative agent. Or the effects are delayed, resulting in clinical signs showing up after many months have passed. Or it can be that the timing of the exposure plays an important role. It could also be that the toxic agents originate from parasites infecting the plant in question, so the plant will be toxin free most of the time but not all the time. With all these factors coming into play, it is very difficult to link toxicity to the causative agent.

So what are some examples of poisonous plants and the effects they cause?

Nerium oleander

This plant here is deadly. Chewing on just one leave can kill you.

Acacia georgineae

This tree here is deadly too. It produces fluoroacetate which shuts down the metabolic pathways in your body (TCA cycle), killing you in the process.

Gastrolobium

This pretty looking plant produces fluroacetate too.

Lolium perenne

This plant alone is non-toxic. However when it is infected by the fungus Neotyphodium lolii, the fungus produces toxins like ergovaline (causes hyperthermia syndrome and gangrene of your limbs) or other toxins that cause diarrhoea in animals at least.

Veratrum californicum

This plants here is amazing. The classic example of how the timing of ingestion affects the outcome. If ingested by a pregnant sheep at day 14 of pregnancy, this is what you get

Cyclopia

Yes. Cyclops do exist. By extrapolating this onto humans, you might get this

Not that I'm trying to scare you. But the fact is that drugs used in "western" medicine are all tested for safety and efficacy. It is a legal requirement. TCM herbs on the other hand...... well let's just say I have not been able to find data on safety and efficacy for most of those herbs. Given the difficulty in associating the clinical signs of toxicity with the herbs, and the fact that alot of chinese herbs are not tested for safety let alone efficacy, I would say it's better to stick with your "western" doctor. At least "western" drugs have been tested rigorously on lab mice, rabbits and Guinea pigs as well as humans, so that we know how safe and efficacious they are. Furthermore, you can sue your doctor if he gave you a sugar pill instead of anti-neoplastic drugs (for treating cancer) to treat your cancer. As previously pointed out by Angrydr here and here, it's hard to sue a geomancer or a priest conducting exorcisms since fengshui and ghosts are not proven to exist you can't say that they are negligent. Cancer treatment with TCM is not supported by any research studies. So how would you know if your TCM practitioner gave you the "correct" treament? Let's leave the toxic herbs out of the equation first. Can you even sue your TCM practitioner for giving you a sugar pill in the first place? "Western" doctors will be in a legal fix if they did that.

Given the prevalance of poisonous herbs (no real suprise since plants evolve defence mehanisms to protect themselves), the diffculting in establishing a link with toxicity and causative agent and the lack of data on safety as well as efficacy it would be unwise to turn to TCM.

So why are there so many people who swear by TCM?

1) Dead patients can't tell you that TCM didn't work for them.

2) Group think (mutual influence in a group of people)

3) The placebo effect

4) Many diseases are self limiting, giving the illusion of a cure

5) Concurrent "western" medical treatment that was actually doing the good work, also giving the illusion of cure by TCM

ST forum letter promoting Quackery? Decide for yourself

Letter from ST forum

TCM centre at SGH a boon to cancer patients

THE news on '$2.8m TCM centre at SGH from Nov'' and 'Meeting of East and West in research'' (ST, Oct 20), moved me to tears.

The great moment - my hope for the day when our local public medical institutions/hospitals can support the use of both Chinese and Western medicine in the treatment of cancer is likely to come true.

As the founder of Cancerstory.com, a volunteers' initiative, I strongly feel that cancer patients should not be deprived of a chance to survive if medical science cannot help them.

In reality, there are some patients who are already 'sentenced to death' by their medical doctors but who have survived cancer after receiving some form of safe and reliable complementary treatment such as TCM.

TCM treatments have been shown to help relieve symptoms and improve the quality of life by lessening the side effects of conventional treatments and providing psychological and physical benefits to the patients.

Many cancer patients feel that no doctor will be pleased to learn of alternative life-saving antidotes that may threaten the 'supremacy' of Western medicine. When things go wrong, the doctors are also likely to put the blame on any form of complementary methods that their patients might be receiving alongside conventional treatment.

As a result, some patients decided to hide the fact that they were taking Chinese medicine even in instances when they were coping and progressing well during conventional treatment. Some doctors were amazed at the good results, but failed to discover the truth - that is, the efficacy of Chinese medicine.

However, I always encourage cancer patients to be truthful to their doctors. Lack of communication about TCM treatment and dietary supplements creates an information gap between doctors and patients that may result in poor cancer management.

Let's hope that the collaboration goes smoothly. To me, it will be the greatest gift to people living with cancer in the Remaking of Singapore - receiving true comprehensive cancer care and equal opportunities to fight cancer in their own stride.

If this happens, cancer patients no longer need to be concerned if TCM clashes with conventional treatment when treated by the 'East Meet West'' specialists in SGH.

Many cancer patients will no longer need to fork out hefty sums to consume expensive 'healing mushrooms'' such as lingzhi, yunzhi, maitake and agaricus.

A competent TCM practitioner/specialist is unlikely to treat cancer using an expensive single herb prescription.

Lee Soh Hong (Miss)
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"In reality, there are some patients who are already 'sentenced to death' by their medical doctors but who have survived cancer after receiving some form of safe and reliable complementary treatment such as TCM. "

Erm...... claiming credit for the efficacy of real medical treatment for cancer? How did you know it was the TCM herbs that sent the cancer into remission and not real medical treatment that was doing the job?

"TCM treatments have been shown to help relieve symptoms and improve the quality of life by lessening the side effects of conventional treatments and providing psychological and physical benefits to the patients. "

That's a pretty big claim. But I wondered why you did not cite the research studies that suggests that TCM treatments can do all of those.

"Many cancer patients feel that no doctor will be pleased to learn of alternative life-saving antidotes that may threaten the 'supremacy' of Western medicine. When things go wrong, the doctors are also likely to put the blame on any form of complementary methods that their patients might be receiving alongside conventional treatment.
As a result, some patients decided to hide the fact that they were taking Chinese medicine even in instances when they were coping and progressing well during conventional treatment. Some doctors were amazed at the good results, but failed to discover the truth - that is, the efficacy of Chinese medicine. "

Doctors would be delighted if Chinese medicine were really efficacious for this would mean that the active ingredient in the herbs can be isolated, adding to the repertoire of anti-neoplastic drugs they have. The question is where is the evidence that demonstrate the efficacy of Chinese medicine?

This was what one study published by the Japanese Journal of Clinical Oncology said:
In conclusion, Chinese cancer patients, willingly, rampantly and non-selectively seek out and consume alternative medications, with almost total ignorance of the medication consumed, oblivious to any potential side effects, and with little subjective benefit.

Personally, I feel it is absolutely irresponsible of ST to publish such a letter that might skew the decision of a cancer patient towards using TCM rather than real medicine. All this letter is, is really an advertisement for TCM with misleading/dangerous/unsubstantiated claims. I mean where the hell are the studies that demonstrates the efficacy of TCM for cancer?