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Perceptions of herbal medicine in the media

  • Pat Thomas
    Pat Thomas

    A former editor of the Ecologist magazine and long-term champion of health, environment and consumer rights, Pat has run campaigns for Meat-Free Monday, Compassion in World Farming and Neal’s Yard Remedies. In 2011, the campaign Cows Belong in Fields, which she ran for Compassion in World Farming, won the Observer Ethical Award for Campaigner of the Year.
    Pat is the editor of the website NYR Natural News – a campaigning natural health website and continues to write as a freelance. She is founder/director of the campaigning group Beyond GM, was inducted into Who’s Who in 2014, is a former trustee of the Soil Association and a current trustee of the Organic Research Centre.

  • 10:48 reading time (ish)
  • Mobility & Fitness Western Herbal Medicine

Written by Pat Thomas

This is the question we pose to our media, ‘do we abandon the potential benefits of botanicals to uphold outdated prejudices, or do we move into a new era of deeper understanding – and better health?’

Perceptions of herbal medicine in the media

If you are a regular user of herbal remedies, you may have just shrugged off the article in the Daily Mail as yet another example of herb bashing.

But it was worth paying attention to because in a few short paragraphs it illustrated so much of what is wrong with the way our media perceives and reports on issues around herbs.

A 16-year-old girl who wanted to lose weight decided to try green tea. Instead of simply going to the supermarket like most of us would, she went online and ordered the tea from a Chinese supplier.

According to the story (1) just 3 cups a day was enough to give her hepatitis.

The authors writing in BMJ Case Reports warn that herbal remedies, including tea and supplements with Camellia sinensis, are ‘readily available from unregulated sources such as the internet and are increasingly used’ (2).

Pat Thomas

A former editor of the Ecologist magazine and long-term champion of health, environment and consumer rights, Pat has run campaigns for Meat-Free Monday, Compassion in World Farming and Neal’s Yard... Read more

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