If anyone's doing scare tactics around this place, Thor, it's you. It's not me. I'm not the one that believes my gov't is after me. You're the one talking about all of the crazy stuff, it's not me.

On countless occassions, I have told you and others that I believe in several areas of natural medicine. But I do believe that there are certain products out there that can be dangerous-just like mainstream medicine itself.

One of the most dangerous concepts involved with herbal use is mold contamination-as is the case with just about every known food crop there is. One of my better friends is a farmer up in Minnesota. If you require proof that mold growth exists and is of concern, I'll give you his phone # if you'd like it.

Now I support its use over mainstream medicine in certain capacities, but not all of them. Again, you give me one example where a Type 1 Diabetic would survive past five days on any of your herbs, etc.

It's a proven fact that certain herbs can attract molds-Ginger is the biggest one I know of. If you would like to deny the existance of the Asperigillus Mold strain, and the 1,000's of farmers and researchers be my guest.

Therefore, my only implication is that for those using herbal formulas, people need to understand that nutritional companies have an open window. Farmers must meet quality standards. Ag producers must meet quality standards, etc. Unfortunately, their produce contains Antibiotics and various pesticides that can cause some major problems....part of that's greed, part of that's out of necessity due to the growing population. But at least that stuff's regulated, Thorn. Herbal companies are not.

There are only two things that a person can grow in a field or produce in a lab that do not require FDA or USDA inspection-tobacco and vitamins/herbals.

Doug Kaufmann suggests that the lung cancer caused by smoking might be to blame mainly on the Asperigillus Niger strain of molds (IE-Black mold, that which we saw on the TV growing in washed out homes down in Louisiana not so long ago). Black mold/black lung. The guy might just have a point on that one, Thorn.

The other open door is for the nutritional companies. Right now, there are hundreds of websites offering herbs for sale that are probably being grown and harvested by some 50 year old lady wearing a 1970's retro blouse and skirt with an 8 track in her back yard featuring the same Mama'a and Papa's album she's been listening to for 30 years. This lady probably had her 20 year old neighbor set up an internet website for her, and she's selling these herbs right off the internet, straight to the consumer. They could be contaminated with ANYTHING to speak of. What's she using for weed control? Does the lady even know how to identify a mold, etc?

THANKFULLY, there are just as many, if not more, well respected companies with sound reputations that freely submit their product to FDA regulated facilities for quality control testing. It's all but a guarentee that such companies will deliver a quality product that's free of any such concerns. That was my only point to this-people have to be careful about the source they buy from, and they need to understand that the mold threat is a very serious one. Look up "Asperigillosis," and than understand that the infection is the result of two things-a weak immune system and contamination with the Asperigillus Niger mold strain.

Asperigillus Niger is just one of many mold strains that target herbs and the plants they grown on. For whatever reason, it seems to "Love Ginger," and about three or four other ones.

If a person feels that they need to be taking one of the herbs that molds tend to target, than they have a fairly simple option to secure their safety-don't grow herbs in your back yard unless you really know what you're doing, don't buy herbs from "Organic, freshly picked sources" that don't submit their product to FDA facilities for inspection, and finally, they have the option of asking the company they order from whether or not they submit their products to FDA inspection facilities for inspection. If they do, a person can all but be assured that they face no concerns in this area. That was my only point.