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

Science and Journalism

Ever read a piece of scientific literature? It looks something like this :

T he first disease linked definitively to active
smoking was lung cancer. It is, therefore, not
surprising that the first disease identified as
caused by passive smoking was also lung cancer.1
Before the advent of mass-marketed cigarettes, lung
cancer was a rare disease. Because smoking is the
primary cause of lung cancer, identification of this
link - for both active2 and passive smoking3-was
relatively straightforward. This situation contrasts
with heart disease, which has many risk factors, and
unsurprisingly, the scientific community was longer in
concluding that active smoking caused heart disease.4
Once the link between smoking and heart disease
was established, smoking was found to kill more
people by causing or aggravating heart disease than
lung cancer. In fact, smoking is the most important,
preventable cause of coronary disease. Exposure to
environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) has now been
linked to heart disease in nonsmokers.5,6


References
1. US Public Health Service: The Health Consequences of Involuntary
Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon GeneraL DHS (CDC)
87-8398, 1986
2. Doll R, Hill AB: A study of the aetiology of carcinoma of the
lung. Br Med J 1952;2:1271-1286
3. Hirayama T: Nonsmoking wives of heavy smokers have a
higher risk of lung cancer: A study from Japan. Br Med J
1981;282(6273):183-185
4. US Public Health Service: The Health Consequences of Smoking:
Cardiovascular Disease: A Report of the Surgeon General.
DHHS (PHS) 84-50204, 1983
5. Wells A: An estimate of adult mortality in the United States
from passive smoking. Environ Int 1988;14:249-265
6. Kristensen T: Cardiovascular diseases and the work environment:
A critical review of the epidemiologic literature on
chemical factors. Scand J Work Environ Health 1989;15:
245-264
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Notice the numbers behind many of the sentences. The purpose of those numbers is so that the reader can refer to the list of references listed at the end of the paper and look up the original papers that describes the experiment which led to that conclusion. For example, if you are interested in reading up how scientists concluded that passive smoking causes lung cancer, you can look up the paper "US Public Health Service: The Health Consequences of InvoluntarySmoking: A Report of the Surgeon GeneraL DHS (CDC)87-8398, 1986" .

In order words the assertion that "It is, therefore, not surprising that the first disease identified as caused by passive smoking was also lung cancer" is not simply an opinion. That assertion is backed up by data collected from an experiment conducted by scientists, with the experimental method documented as well. Should you disagree with the conclusion that passive smoking causes lung cancer, you may examine the experiment that led to that conclusion, point out the faults in that experiment and dispute its findings.

Now let's take a look at another article. The original link is here

SINGAPORE: 'Light touch' on new media, but government alert to radical websites

Government to restrict access to websites that might pose a threat to Singapore

Straits TimesThursday, June 21, 2007

By Leslie Goh

The Government is prepared to restrict access to any website with radical content that poses a threat to Singapore society, said Dr Lee Boon Yang, the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts (Mica) yesterday.

Referring to the recent detention of a Muslim polytechnic lecturer for planning militant activities, he said it showed how self-radicalisation could take place on the Internet, even among well-educated individuals.
Governments had to be vigilant against this new threat, he said, adding that till now, Singapore had adopted a "light touch" when regulating new media.

"Despite the risks and threats, we believe that this is still the most practical approach to managing new media," he said.

However, the Government has to be alert and, "where necessary," would restrict access to websites which threaten society with an online "vortex of lies and distortion."

Speaking at the inaugural New Media @ Arts House forum, he raised the issue of the social impact of new media, and pointed out that radical sites posed as much of a problem as pornographic sites and sex predators in chatrooms.

The half-day forum, organised by the Media Development Authority (MDA), coincides with the Infocomm Media Business Exchange, the largest telco and media trade show now on.

The forum panel, comprising media specialists and Internet gurus, also took questions from the floor.
MDA's chief executive Christopher Chia, referring to the Government's "light touch," said there was no plan to "hire people to police websites."

His deputy, Mr Michael Yap, added that monitoring of the Web would be an ineffective exercise in any case, because "if one site was outlawed today, something would replace it the next day."

Responding to queries from The Straits Times later, an MDA spokesman confirmed that the Government did not maintain a list of websites with radical content.

But, picking up on the minister's point, the spokesman said MDA was "prepared to restrict access to websites that posed a threat to Singapore society with their radical online content."

The other panellists welcomed the opportunities provided by new media but also highlighted the dangers posed by it.

Professor Kishore Mahbubani, the dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, said that instead of bringing the world together and promoting understanding, the Web could lead to greater divisions.

For example, if right-wing people visited only right-wing websites and blogs, they would not be exposed to other views, and would become a closed community.

Film director Shekhar Kapur warned of the "rise of cultism."

He also feared that individuals who spent hours on their PC keyboards instead of going for face-to-face interactions could develop long-term psychological problems.

Mr Cheong Yip Seng, who chairs the Advisory Council on the Impact of New Media on Society, noted the different views on regulation of the Internet.

Some people wanted it to be free of legislation, others preferred some form of it to set a "moral marker."
But, he said, legislation had to be practical, because it would be "a lost cause if it could not be enforced."
MDA announced yesterday that its Media 21 masterplan for the interactive digital media industry would be updated before the year end, and renamed Media Fusion 2015.

Eight recommendations put forward by MDA's International Advisory Panel, which had met over the last two days, would be considered for the masterplan.

Some of the recommendations are that Singapore should:

• Adapt content from films, TV programmes, music and published material for use in traditional and digital formats and platforms;
• Identify a few national-level digital media projects;
• Continue to invest in infrastructure, attract talent, and create an environment for creativity to flourish;
• Leverage on its role as a gateway between the East and the West to be a centre for global enterprises; and
  
• Enhance the use of digital media technologies and tools in the education, medicine and science sectors.

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Now have a good laugh. Especially this : "Film director Shekhar Kapur warned of the "rise of cultism." He also feared that individuals who spent hours on their PC keyboards instead of going for face-to-face interactions could develop long-term psychological problems." I don't mean to be rude. BUT WTF??!!!