The Complete Home Guide to Herbs, Natural Healing, and Nutrition

use of pesticides, including insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, and other

agents, with a tenfold increase in potency. Pesticide use on herbs is

disastrous. According to the U.S. National Cancer Institute, cancer rates

increase by seven or eight times through ingestion of pesticide-

contaminated foods— not something that sits comfortably with herbs that

are going to be used for medicine.

Sulfured herbs are now available; apricots and peaches are sulfured to

keep their color and for storage, but do we want sulfured herbs as well?

Rodents and insects are sometimes found among herbs. Microbes— for

example fungi and bacteria— need to be kept to a minimum, but herbs are

often sprayed in transit with noxious chemicals like ethylene oxide, thus

causing them to become toxic. Bacteria such as E. coli and those causing

typhus have been found in herbs, particularly low-growing plants, during

monsoon seasons.

Some herbs are sprayed with antibiotics to bypass the need for

expensive laboratory testing to determine toxicity and microbial levels

(

which are often unacceptably high). The resulting products are called

pretreated and passed as “clean.” Another way in which herb companies

have sought to “clean up” herbs is by using autoclaving, a cleaning process

that utilizes steam. Originally used solely for surgical tools, this

sterilization technique is now used on herbs in an attempt to lessen

severely the risk of contamination. Yet another method is to irradiate

herbs, another controversial process that is routinely used on some foods.

Very often the fact that the product has been irradiated is not put on the

label, and recently some companies in Britain selling imported herbs were

prosecuted for not disclosing this information.

In other cases the MHRA tested commonly sold, over-the-counter

herbal remedies and some of the results were shocking though not

surprising. Many were found to contain very little or almost no actual

active herb ingredients. Often ash was the main constituent. This is what

brings herbs into disrepute and fuels the “they don’t work” problem

which is common to Britain and worldwide. (For high quality U.S. herbs

see the American Botanical Pharmacy on page xii.)

The bottom line is that organic (or clean, wild-collected) herbs have to

become the only type of herb acceptable to the industry, which can

happen if the public demands it. Exclusive use of such herbs needs to be

coupled with procedures to analyze each plant’s authenticity of species

and with use of appropriate storage facilities, including storage of fresh

tinctures or freeze-dried herbs, to ensure minimum spoilage and

maximum potency.

Home Guide to Herbs - davies