Comment Arnica and other "real" herbal medicines (Score 1) 173
What I find more confusing is that I know of at least two products labelled "homeopathic" that actually work because they contain real medicine at resonable concentrations . . . and Arnica gel, which contains a powerful anti-inflammatory extracted from a plant. Another product that I know from personal experience that actually works pretty damn well.
What I find difficult is why do some people feel the need for the FDA to "control" items which are actually effective, simply because they are effective? Not everything is dangerous, even if it does have some effect. I can think of several things which are effective, yet safe, herbal remedies.
Ginger is good for settling the stomache. Motion sickness, and ginger's effect, was (non-scientifically) covered on a Mythbusters episode. I grew up in Michigan, where we drank Vernor's Ginger Ale when sick-to-vomiting. There were times that it was the only thing I could keep down.
Some of our best medicines are plant derived. Statins are naturally present in a particular strain of rice. There was a grain seller who was sued and forced to stop selling that particular type of rice because it violated the patent on Statins, even though the rice pre-existed the drug. At least I think it was a patent issue, could have been FDA related, either way they were forced to stop selling it. (gee, one would think that there would be prior-art there.)
For other items the FDA makes the manufacturer stop because the FDA determines that the effect isn't strong enough. My wife has mild psoriasis. One item which was effective for her was Tegrin ointment, which was either coal or pine tar based. The FDA did some studies and found that they could not show a statistically provable effect, so they forced all of the coal/pine tar (which ever it was) products off the market. There may be different types of psoriasis for all I know, and maybe it isn't effective for all of them, but it did help my wife. Yes, there are steroidal cremes which are potentially more effective, but they also have side effects on the areas treated with them, whereas the ___tar didn't. Recently, there are even "better" treatments advertised on TV, but if you listen to the small print (fast talker at the end of the commercial), they have potentially even worse side-effects, and are only advertised to fairly severe cases because of it. Regardless, a mild treatment which worked for my wife's mild case was removed from the market.