From Chris Richardson
Gregory Sams claims that “there is relatively little evidence of addiction or misuse of products within the herbal and supplements market” (1 May, p 32). Surely this is because traditional remedies that are likely to be abused – cannabis, coca, opium, quat and many more – are not readily available as a supplement. Natural products only recently abused, such as ephedra, are now joining them.
He is right that it is unjustly difficult to fund testing of herbal remedies. However, just because a product comes from a genuine jungle plant is no proof of its efficacy, and consumers need to be warned that treatments of natural origin might not be 100 per cent safe.
London, UK
