Evaluating, Designing, and Accessing Herbal Medicine Research

Title
Evaluating, Designing, and Accessing Herbal Medicine Research
Publication Date
2007
Author(s)
Bone, Kerry
Editor
Editor(s): Susan G. Wynn and Barbara J. Fougère
Type of document
Book Chapter
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Mosby
Place of publication
St Louis, United States of America
Edition
1
UNE publication id
une:2667
Abstract
An ongoing debate among herbalists and natural therapists involves what role, if any, science must play in the future of herbal medicine. Some feel that the traditional basis of herbal medicine provides a completely adequate therapy and that the scientific investigation of herbs or herbal therapy has little to offer. They caution that the wholesale incorporation of scientific methods into the practice of herbal medicine will result in adverse changes - changes that will make herbal medicine less than what it is today. They fear that herbal medicine will lose its traditional basis, its insight, and its soul. Perhaps it will become a sick hybrid that is neither scientifically sound nor valid as a therapy; possibly, herbal medicine will become totally reductionist, with herbs, similar to many modern drugs, used only for superficial symptom control. Among some herbalists, science is seen as a technique for information gathering that is inferior to the knowledge derived from insight, inspiration, and intuition.
Link
Citation
Veterinary Herbal Medicine, p. 87-97
ISBN
0323029981
9780323029988
Start page
87
End page
97

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