As a herbalist I have to put up with considerable attack from 'authorities' that claim to be the holders of scientific truth. Herbal medicine is regularly rubbished by the medical establishment and dismissed as superstion, witchcraft or alchemy. They accuse us of not having the scientific studies to prove efficacy or safety, ignoring entirely the simple facts that (a) we do not have the funding to do extensive studies like the pharmaceutical companies and (b) there is not one documented case of a herbalist causing death or even injury, yet there are some 90000 patient deaths per year linked to hospital errors. Of course our detractors know this, and are trying to rubbish us by using their power and position and are not interested in real science at all.

So, I was pleased to find the following quotation from professor Henry Bauer Emeritus of Chemistry and Science, Virginia Polytech (2004), which sums up the position succinctly:

"Minority views on technical issues are largely absent from the public arena. Increasingly corporate organization of science has led to knowledge monopolies, which, with the unwitting help of uncritical mass media, effect a kind of censorship. Since corporate scientific organizations also control the funding of research, by denying funds for unorthodox work they function as research cartels as well as knowledge monopolies. Science is now altogether different from the traditional disinterested search, by self-motivated individuals, to understand the world."

The following recent articles are good examples of how the knowledge-cartels with the media's collaboration smuggly adopt the scientific high ground:

Herbalism Kill or Cure? - Independent 5 January 2010

This article clearly over-emphasises the 'dangers' of herbal medicine and questions the scientific basis for their benefits. A very good debate follows the article and makes worthwhile reading - at one point a herbal detractor (zeno001) gives an example of the dangers of herbal medicine, but the link leads to a government safety warning for a chinese herbal product contaminated with pharmaceutical drugs. Clearly it is the pharmaceuticals, not the herbs that are dangerous!

A spanner in the herbal works - Nigel Hawkes, freelance journalist, BMJ, 21 December 2009 (needs subscription to get the whole article)

In his article Nigel Hawkes seeks to undermine herbal medicine, comparing it to alchemy. However he does show that the Royal College of Surgeons has done a U-turn and no longer supports Herbalists becoming statutorily regulated. Originally they saw it as a way to reduce the chance of unqualified herbalists 'harming patients', but now they think that it would 'Confer a legitimacy that they do not have', ie threaten their position! At least one of the people commenting on this article was willing to try and put the record straight: link

The new climate change scandal - Express, 18 January 2010

OK, so this article is not herbal, but it still shows how financial interest and power can lead to compromised science at the highest level of one of the world's most respected scientific bodies. Like the climate-gate scandle last year you get the feeling that these people 'know' they're right, so don't apply the same rigor to their own practice that they demand of the rest of us.