Modernized natural alternatives and natural replacements for toxic synthetic drugs<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I was born and raised in Hong Kong in a family with a TCM\ntradition, using only Chinese medicines until I was in my teens. Being a kid with a short attention span, I\nflunked out of elementary school and then again out of high school, in what is\nequivalent to our sophomore year here, after failing 3 or 4 subjects (one of\nwhich was music, basically singing in front of my class). I then skipped a grade, graduated from\nanother high school with honors, and went to Taiwan to attend the National\nTaiwan University. There, I earned a\nB.S. degree in pharmacy, doing exceptionally well in pharmacognosy. When I applied to 2 universities in the U.S.\nto pursue graduate studies, the University of Michigan accepted me and also\noffered me a teaching assistantship. Who\ncould turn that down? So, I was there in\nAnn Arbor, Michigan, for 5 years before getting a PhD in Pharmacognosy (study\nof natural drugs). After finishing my\nstudies in Michigan, at the time, teaching opportunities for Asian students\nwere few, my advisor found me a postdoctoral position at the University of\nCalifornia San Francisco Medical Center to work on the biosynthesis of opium\nalkaloids and the isolation of new opioids from the opium poppy plant. That basically started my rollercoaster\ncareer for more than 50 years \u2013 from natural-product chemist, entrepreneur, salesman,\nchief research microbiologist in single-cell protein production from petroleum,\ndirector of R&D in herbal extraction, owner and director of several\ncompanies in the research and production of herbal products (supplements)\nspecializing in Chinese herbs, and then principal investigator of an SBIR database\ncontract awarded by the National Cancer Institute, to principal investigator of\nan SBIR grant from NCCAM, NIH, on herb identification and standardization, etc.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n My point in telling you all these (mostly already covered\nin my books), is that, being outside of the academic circle for a person like\nme, would probably give me a unique perspective not gained if I had been in a\nstable, tenured academic position. This\nvaried real-life experience in seeing how herbs and drugs actually being promoted\nto, and used by, the general public over the past 50 years has given me new\nperspectives on our health and healthcare (more realistically, sick-care). <\/p>\n\n\n\n I grew up\nusing herbs and have personally experienced their beneficial effects. I probably didn\u2019t take any drugs for anything\nuntil I was in my teens. There was no\nreason to, because I was seldom sick, probably due to the absence of synthetic\ndrugs in my body at that time which would otherwise wreak havoc to my immune\nsystem. We never used disinfectant wipes,\nate antibiotic-laden meat, or had doctors give us antibiotics whenever we had a\ncold. But one thing I distinctly\nremember when I got the flu (Asian flu pandemic 1967-68) at college in Taiwan\nafter watching a track meet in light-rainy weather without an umbrella for\nhours. I was in bed for 2 weeks and lost\n20 pounds that I didn\u2019t gain back until years after I was married. While in bed lying down, I was fine and could\nchat with my roommates with no problem. \nBut when I tried to sit up, my head began to spin, which went away as\nsoon as I lay down again. I assume I was\ngiven some modern drugs. But the most\nmemorable is what they gave me to relieve my terrible cough. It was an extract of jiegeng<\/em> (root of Platycodon\ngrandiflorum<\/em> or balloon flower) made in our school dispensary in glass\npercolators. After taking that, my cough\nwent away overnight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Then decades later, while I was sourcing Siberian ginseng (eleuthero) and Schisandra in northeastern China for one of my products, guided by my supplier-friends, Sammy Ma and his brother, I came across jiegeng<\/em> again, this time as a dish of root vegetable at one of our dinners there.\u00a0 This just shows us that the origin of our medicine often has a common root with food.\u00a0 Our age-old experience with it through trial-and-error guarantees it as safe and effective.\u00a0 Unfortunately, many of us have forgotten our root.\u00a0 Instead of producing safe and nontoxic drugs, we have somehow created the vicious cycle, that generates side effects and new diseases for the general public but is a perpetual money-making machine for pharmaceutical companies and their associates with total impunity, no matter what they produce.\u00a0 How depressing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n In my next post, I\u2019ll tell you my plan to address the\nfollowing issues: (1) expose fake herbal supplements without herbs, so that consumers\ncan avoid those and switch to genuine ones; (2) modernized natural remedies\nwith safe-use records that are accompanied by meaningful fingerprints of\nidentity and quality; and (3) more natural chemical drugs, and how to avoid their\nsynthetic counterparts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Modernized natural alternatives and natural replacements for toxic synthetic drugs I was born and raised in Hong Kong in a family with a TCM tradition, using only Chinese medicines until I was in my teens. Being a kid with a short attention span, I flunked out of elementary school and then again out of high … <\/p>\n