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Natural Causes: Death, Lies and Politics in America's Vitamin and Herbal Supplement Industry
by Dan Hurley

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/231978.Natural_Causes_Death_Lies_and_Politics_in_America_s_Vitamin_and_Herbal_Supplement_Industry?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Natural Causes: Death, Lies and Politics in America's Vitamin and Herbal Supplement Industry" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1172942682m/231978.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/231978.Natural_Causes_Death_Lies_and_Politics_in_America_s_Vitamin_and_Herbal_Supplement_Industry?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Natural Causes: Death, Lies and Politics in America's Vitamin and Herbal Supplement Industry</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/135793.Dan_Hurley">Dan Hurley</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/20514158?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 5 of 5 stars Oh, I don't even know where to start. This book was AWESOME. As a science person, I find myself constantly annoyed by pseudo-science like homeopathy and herbalism and the whole anti-medical establishment. This book is excellent at pointing out that not only are these anti-science movements UNPROVEN and in direct conflict with generally accepted laws of physics, biology, and chemistry, but they are also potentially mortally dangerous. As if that wasn't enough, some of the largest supplement/vitamin manufactures are up to their ears in politics and federal regulation of such products. These products aren't unregulated because they are "natural" and "safe" - they are unregulated because manufacturers have deep pockets to lobby policymakers. 
 
 The best part of this book? The stories where people turned away from standard of care medical treatments, used some unregulated "natural product", suffered even worse consequences, and then turned around and cried, "Why didn't the government protect me????????" Wake up and smell the coffee you feeble-minded folk - while the FDA is by no means perfect (we all can think of examples, and the pharma industry is by no means an innocent bystander either) they do try to make sure that treatments are safer than doing nothing at all. If you chose to turn your back on regulated treatments then you have no one to blame but yourself. You don't "trust" any medical professional with advice regarding your health but you trust a person working the counter at a vitamin store????? It blows my mind.
 
 Also, I would like to address the issue of things being "natural". Just because something is "natural" it does not equate to "safe". Radon, anyone? Hemlock? Digitalis? Creosote? The list goes on and on... Bad things occur naturally in nature. And a molecule is a molecule whether it is naturally derived or make in a laboratory. Water coming from the sky or water made in a laboratory - if it is pure your body CAN NOT tell the difference. 
 
 With all that being said, there is a reference in this book about the dark side of the pharma industry (The Truth About the Drug Companies - How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It by Marcia Angell, MD, former editor-in-chief of New England Journal of Medicine) and I am highly interested in reading this as well. I think the bottom line is that there is a dark side to almost every entity whose main objective is to make a profit. But to just turn a blind eye towards advancements in medicine and science - just wow. "It's the molecule, stupid."
 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/374952?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Ellen's review
rating:
recommended for: voodoo witch doctors, alchemists, quacks, herbalists, homepathists, Scientologists

Oh, I don't even know where to start. This book was AWESOME. As a science person, I find myself constantly annoyed by pseudo-science like homeopathy and herbalism and the whole anti-medical establishment. This book is excellent at pointing out that not only are these anti-science movements UNPROVEN and in direct conflict with generally accepted laws of physics, biology, and chemistry, but they are also potentially mortally dangerous. As if that wasn't enough, some of the largest supplement/vitamin manufactures are up to their ears in politics and federal regulation of such products. These products aren't unregulated because they are "natural" and "safe" - they are unregulated because manufacturers have deep pockets to lobby policymakers.

The best part of this book? The stories where people turned away from standard of care medical treatments, used some unregulated "natural product", suffered even worse consequences, and then turned around and cried, &q...more Oh, I don't even know where to start. This book was AWESOME. As a science person, I find myself constantly annoyed by pseudo-science like homeopathy and herbalism and the whole anti-medical establishment. This book is excellent at pointing out that not only are these anti-science movements UNPROVEN and in direct conflict with generally accepted laws of physics, biology, and chemistry, but they are also potentially mortally dangerous. As if that wasn't enough, some of the largest supplement/vitamin manufactures are up to their ears in politics and federal regulation of such products. These products aren't unregulated because they are "natural" and "safe" - they are unregulated because manufacturers have deep pockets to lobby policymakers.

The best part of this book? The stories where people turned away from standard of care medical treatments, used some unregulated "natural product", suffered even worse consequences, and then turned around and cried, "Why didn't the government protect me????????" Wake up and smell the coffee you feeble-minded folk - while the FDA is by no means perfect (we all can think of examples, and the pharma industry is by no means an innocent bystander either) they do try to make sure that treatments are safer than doing nothing at all. If you chose to turn your back on regulated treatments then you have no one to blame but yourself. You don't "trust" any medical professional with advice regarding your health but you trust a person working the counter at a vitamin store????? It blows my mind.

Also, I would like to address the issue of things being "natural". Just because something is "natural" it does not equate to "safe". Radon, anyone? Hemlock? Digitalis? Creosote? The list goes on and on... Bad things occur naturally in nature. And a molecule is a molecule whether it is naturally derived or make in a laboratory. Water coming from the sky or water made in a laboratory - if it is pure your body CAN NOT tell the difference.

With all that being said, there is a reference in this book about the dark side of the pharma industry (The Truth About the Drug Companies - How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It by Marcia Angell, MD, former editor-in-chief of New England Journal of Medicine) and I am highly interested in reading this as well. I think the bottom line is that there is a dark side to almost every entity whose main objective is to make a profit. But to just turn a blind eye towards advancements in medicine and science - just wow. "It's the molecule, stupid."
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