I find it interesting that officials claim that herbs have no effects on the body unless they are adverse effects.  In other words they claim that herbs cannot cure disease because they have no effects on the body.  But then they say they are dangerous because of the effects on the body.

The article mentions aristolochia causing two cases of kidney disease.  Compare that to some pharmaceutical drugs such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, Nuprin, etc.) that killed two dozen people during clinical trials from ibuprofen induced hepatitis.  Yet, this drug also well known for causing kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke, fatal hemorrhaging, etc.  was not banned, it was approved by the FDA.  And this highly toxic drug was so dangerous it had to be obtained by prescription until the patent ran out.  Then somehow this same drug somehow miraculously became safe enough to be sold over the counter and even safe enough that the FDA approved it for children.

Ibuprofen and other NSAIDs kill an average 16,500 people a year according to FDA estimates.  Yet they are sold over the counter like candy.  But any herb suspected of causing some harm has a big bullseye painted on it by the FDA and other officials around the world.

The FDA fast track approved the drug DDI in 18 months after the dug killed 132 people from pancreatitis.  AZT has potentially killed hundreds of thousands of people as has chemotherapy dugs with full FDA approval.  But they make sure that the deaths are not listed to being caused by the drugs so the public never really catches on to their real safety issues.  For example, how many average people are aware that the drug AZT is actually one of the primary causes of the syndrome called AIDS?  Or that all chemotherapy drugs are carcinogenic and according to experts kill 95% of the people undergoing this quackery primarily due to the malnutrition they induce?  Yet when people die from AZT the death is listed as AIDS instead.  And if they die from the chemotherapy the death is listed from cancer.  

They even blame herbs for pharmaceutical mishaps.  Look at chaparral for example.  A while back the FDA tried to ban chaparral because of 13 isolated cases of hepatitis in people who happened to be taking chaparral.  What the FDA left out was that these same people were taking pharmaceutical drugs well known for causing liver failure and/or had pre-existing liver failure.  This also helps to explain why with thousands of years of use that no cases of hepatitis from chaparral use had been reported nor any since even though the use of chaparral was never banned.  All of a sudden though when it was exposed that many of these people were taking liver damaging pharmaceutical drugs the FDA quickly backed off and dropped the subject.

This all just goes to show that this has NOTHING to do with protecting the public and EVERYTHING to do with protecting the profits of pharmaceutical companies groups like the FDA have illegal investments and ethics violating ties with.

As more proof the FDA requires that all adverse events from supplements be reported no matter how minor they are.  The FDA has no such requirement for pharmaceutical drugs even if they result in injury or death.  It is clear that herbs and supplements are targets for the FDA to protect their own investments and the gifts and high level jobs FDA officials get as payoffs from the pharmaceutical companies as was reported by an ex-Commissioner for the FDA.