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Objectives

•         There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.

•         The society rely on Doctors to cure them, what if the Doctors fail to realize that “prevention” comes from within Nature “immune system”

•         Fast food , Alchohol abuse, Drug depencies are the Devils.

Socrates once said there is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance "this statement should guide us in all our actions, especially where our health is concerned. Too many of us do not have the slightest idea of how to maintain good health. When illness strikes, we rely on our doctors to cure us. What we fail to realize is that "the cure" comes from within Nature has provided us with a wondrous immune system, and all we have to do is take proper care of this inner healing force.

Does this sound too simple? Basically, it is simple our modern lifestyles have gotten us off the right track with fast foods, alcohol abuse, Drug dependencies, and high tech stress. Nature intended to fuel our inner healing force with the right natural substances to enable the body function up to its fullest potential.

Our modern lifestyles have gotten us off the right track with fast foods, alcohol abuse, Drug dependencies, and high tech stress

The herbal treatment of disease

•  Phytotherapy ( Herbal medicine), the natural therapies, by contrast, aims not to ‘cure’ disease by a technological fix.

•  The nature in totality, is the expression of a universal harmony and equilibrium the rupture of which gives rise to numerous ill effects.

Success

The human genome project, which has been under way for several years now, represents an attempt to build a complete genetic profile of the human race. Already researchers claim to have identified the gene responsible for a number of abnormalities, from cystic fibrosis to, most recently, aggression. Should this be regarded as an exciting enterprise that deserves the support of therapists of all persuasions? Or is it an extreme expression of hubris, a hazardous undertaking with unforeseeable and possibly disastrous consequences for human health and liberty.

The result of this misperception is that, inevitably, genetic mapping will lead to genetic manipulation – indeed that is the avowed aim of geneticists.

Whatever the good intentions of researchers, the medical -industrial establishment a tacit alliance of doctors, drug companies, insurance and other interested parties, influenced to varying degrees by consideration of money or power – will ensure that the pressures on 'genetic defectives' to undergo therapy will be irresistible. This will give rise to a society where the individual will relinquish all control over his or her own health, and where virtually everyone, from gestation onward, will become a "patient" under the control of the medical - industrial complex.

What does all this have to do with Phytotherapy (Herbal Medicine)?

The natural therapies-among which the phytotherapy, in global terms, is paramount-in general reflect the philosophical view that nature in totality, is the expression of a universal harmony and equilibrium, the rupture of which gives rise to numerous ill effects, among them environmental devastation in the biosphere and ill-health in the individual.

Phytotherapy, by contrast, aims not to cure disease by a technological fix, but to bring about a restoration of homoeostasis through remedies that assist, but stop short of violence to the organism's intrinsic healing powers.

The eminent French doctor J.C Lapaz maintains that 90% of both common and serious illnesses could be treated with phytotherapy. It is therefore the lecturer believe that widening the scope of natural medicine in this way presents as worthy as a challenge to science as the human genome project, and one whose success would be crowned with immeasurably greater benefits to humanity and prevention of diseases.

Medicinal Herbs The Whole better than part

•         Powerfull ingredients

•         Only 15% of estimated plant species on earth have been investigated for possible Medicinal uses.

•         The world Health organization estimates that 80% of earth population today depends on plants to treat common ailments.

•         Traditional Healers are good resources for scientific based research.

Many Herbs contain powerful ingredients, that if used correctly , can help heal the body, prevent so many diseases. The Pharmaceutical industry was originally based upon the ability to isolate these ingredients and make them in a purer form.

Herbalists and the Traditional Healers , however contend that nature provides other ingredients in the same herbs to balance the more powerful ingredients, these other components, though they may be less potent, may help to act as buffers, synergists, or counterbalances working in harmony with the more powerful ingredients provided by nature. (The whole is better than part.)

Poisonous Plants and Safe medicine

• Straightforward definition of a “ poisonous plant”.
• The major poisonous principles found among plants are organic compound.
• Herbal medicines are to be prescribed with greatest care.

Foxglove belongs to the Figwort family (Scrophulariaceae) and the whole plant is toxic. It contains various cardiac glycosides. Symptoms include dizziness, vomiting, irregular heart beat, and delerium or halucinations.  

Probably the most straightforward definition of poisonous plant is that given by Forsyth 1954 "One which give rise to a serious departure from normal health, one small quantity of its seed, root or vegetation is eaten by a creature which is susceptible to its effects". However this definition still leaves much to be desired as how are "serious departure" normal health and small quantity should be interpreted.

The major poisonous principles found among plants are organic compounds such as alkaloids, diverseness, cardia and cyanogenic glycosides, nitro-containing compounds, oxalates, resins and certain proteins and or amino acids. Some plants also accumulate inorganic elements, largely from the soil, and these too may have serious effects on man.

More than 400 glycosides have been characterized, the best known of which are found in Foxglove. The Coumarin glycosides are vitamin k antagonists and may result in abnormal bleeding. There are many other kinds of glycosides a number of which are considered to be poisonous principles, such as those which prevent the thyroid from accumulating inorganic iodine as found in cabbage, broccoli and all species of Brassica.

The glycosides yielding hydrocyanic acid are called cyanogenic, and the most distributed of these is amygdaline which is commonly found in the seeds of apples and pears and leaves of apricots. The severity of poisoning from cyanide in plants depends on how much free hydrogen cyanide exist in the plant.

Oxalic acid, the only organic acid of plants toxic under natural conditions, it causes kidney failure, can form stones and reduces the proportion of calcium in the blood. The examples of poisoning could be multiplied many times, however those given above were chosen partly to show the variety and range of poisoning and to demonstrate that there is no real way at present the toxic principles can be usefully grouped. The shelves and the Traditional practioner drawers contain Herbal medicines that affect the body very powerfully and are to be prescribed with the greatest care.

This fact sheet is one in a series of summaries about hazardous substances and their health effects. This information is important because this substance may harm you. The effects of exposure to any hazardous substance depend on the dose, the duration, how you are exposed, personal traits and habits, and whether other chemicals are present.

 HIGHLIGHTS: Exposure to high levels of cyanide harms the brain and heart, and may cause coma and death. Exposure to lower levels may result in breathing difficulties, heart pains, vomiting, blood changes, headaches, and enlargement of the thyroid gland. Cyanide has been found in at least 471 of the 1,647 National Priorities List sites identified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  

Facts About Cyanide

• What cyanide is
• Cyanide is a rapidly acting, potentially deadly chemical that can exist in various forms.
• Cyanide can be a colorless gas, such as hydrogen cyanide (HCN) or cyanogen chloride (CNCl), or a crystal form such as sodium cyanide (NaCN) or potassium cyanide (KCN).
• Cyanide sometimes is described as having a “bitter almond” smell, but it does not always give off an odor, and not everyone can detect this odor.
• Cyanide is also known by the military designations AC (for hydrogen cyanide) and CK (for cyanogen chloride).

Where cyanide is found and how it is used

Hydrogen cyanide, under the name Zyklon B, was used as a genocidal agent by the Germans in World War II.

Reports have indicated that during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, hydrogen cyanide gas may have been used along with other chemical agents against the inhabitants of the Kurdish city of Halabja in northern Iraq.

Cyanide is released from natural substances in some foods and in certain plants such as cassava. Cyanide is contained in cigarette smoke and the combustion products of synthetic materials such as plastics. Combustion products are substances given off when things burn.

In manufacturing, cyanide is used to make paper, textiles, and plastics. It is present in the chemicals used to develop photographs. Cyanide salts are used in metallurgy for electroplating, metal cleaning, and removing gold from its ore. Cyanide gas is used to exterminate pests and vermin in ships and buildings.

If accidentally ingested (swallowed), chemicals found in acetonitrile-based products that are used to remove artificial nails can produce cyanide.

How you could be exposed to cyanide

You could be exposed to cyanide by breathing air, drinking water, eating food, or touching soil that contains cyanide. Cyanide enters water, soil, or air as a result of both natural processes and industrial activities. In air, cyanide is present mainly as gaseous hydrogen cyanide. Smoking cigarettes is probably one of the major sources of cyanide exposure for people who do not work in cyanide-related industries.  How cyanide worksThe extent of poisoning caused by cyanide depends on the amount of cyanide a person is exposed to, the route of exposure, and the length of time that a person is exposed. Breathing cyanide gas causes the most harm, but ingesting (swallowing) cyanide can be toxic as well. Cyanide gas is most dangerous in enclosed places where the gas will be trapped. Cyanide gas evaporates and disperses quickly in open spaces, making it less harmful outdoors. Cyanide gas is less dense than air, so it will rise. Cyanide prevents the cells of the body from using oxygen. When this happens, the cells die. Cyanide is more harmful to the heart and brain than to other organs because the heart and brain use a lot of oxygen.  What is cyanide?

Cyanide is usually found joined with other chemicals to form compounds. Examples of simple cyanide compounds are hydrogen cyanide, sodium cyanide and potassium cyanide. Certain bacteria, fungi, and algae can produce cyanide, and cyanide is found in a number of foods and plants. In certain plant foods, including almonds, millet sprouts, lima beans, soy, spinach, bamboo shoots, and cassava roots (which are a major source of food in tropical countries), cyanides occur naturally as part of sugars or other naturally-occurring compounds. However, the edible parts of plants that are eaten, including tapioca which is made from cassava roots, contain relatively low amounts of cyanide.Hydrogen cyanide is a colorless gas with a faint, bitter, almond-like odor. Sodium cyanide and potassium cyanide are both white solids with a bitter, almond-like odor in damp air. Cyanide and hydrogen cyanide are used in electroplating, metallurgy, organic chemicals production, photographic developing, manufacture of plastics, fumigation of ships, and some mining processes.

Bacteria consist of only a single cell, but don't let their small size and seeming simplicity fool you. They're an amazingly complex and fascinating group of creatures. Bacteria have been found that can live in temperatures above the boiling point and in cold that would freeze your blood. They "eat" everything from sugar and starch to sunlight, sulfur and iron. There's even a species of bacteria—Deinococcus radiodurans—that can withstand blasts of radiation 1,000 times greater than would kill a human being.

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