History Main / SpiceRackPanacea

In the U.S., a recent law has forced advertisements of such herbal remedies, which are not run through the Food and Drug Administration, to say as much at the end of their ads. Thus, you'll [[RattlingOffLegal hear]] or [[UnreadableDisclaimer see]] [[OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope the following]]: "These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure any disease." Which basically translates into "[[BlatantLies We just lied through our teeth]]" if the whole point of the ad was to imply that the remedy ''did'' "diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure" a specific disease. The above disclaimer has been derisively dubbed by the medical community as "The Quack Miranda Warning".

** Nanny Ogg and Granny Weatherwax make use of this tendency almost to excess, with the former providing it as a reason why her [[GargleBlaster scumble]] is a healthy tonic ("It's made from apples. Well, mainly apples."), and the latter explaining to certain folks that some of her medicines contain rare herbal ingredients, like akwa and sukrose. It helps that, on the Disc, when a witch hands you a bottle and says that it will cure your ailments, you'd better darned well believe that it'll cure your ailments.

* Not yet a trope, but it seems that every month or two someone tests some herbal treatment, and discovers that the manufacturer is slipping in ground up Viagra or blood pressure medicine or some other prescription medicine appropriate to the condition. Not that they're mentioning that little fact on the label, opening people to surprise drug interactions and overdoses.
** The consumer's lucky if it is Viagra or blood pressure medicine. Many herbal medicines contain drugs that were banned in the West years ago after they were discovered to be unsafe. Others contain veterinary drugs that aren't safe for human use - one example contained an antibiotic used to treat horses which in humans could be lethal.

* During the SARS outbreak, internet chain letters claimed things such as Vitamin C, Belladonna, and Colloidal Silver would cure it. Vitamin C is fairly tame, but Belladonna is a poisonous plant and Colloidal Silver will ''permanently turn your skin blue.''
** Must be noted that colloidal silver ''has'' demonstrated antimicrobial properties in laboratory testing. Silver itself is antimicrobial and sufficiently small or properly arranged silver particles have increased effect, which is why they are used in coatings. ''Ingested'' silver hasn't been sufficiently tested to determine if it has the same properties in the body but toxicity has no known harmful side effects aside from the blue (actually closer to grey) pigmentation.
*** Except for potential kidney failure, and actual antibiotics doing much better in antimicrobial department. Actually taking colloidal silver is pretty much like drinking bleach because it kills germs.
* Come to think of it, someone really did try selling [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_Mineral_Supplement medicinal bleach]] a couple of years ago. Even now, there are those who claim it cures everything from cancer to autism.

* Come to think of it, someone really did try selling [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_Mineral_Supplement medicinal bleach]] a couple of years ago.

* An episode of ''LawAndOrder'' deals with a doctor selling one of these as a breast cancer cure, with the result that one of her patients dies from complications of the disease.

Equally important, there are often no warnings of potentially harmful side-effects, or interactions with prescription drugs, foods, or even other herbal pills; even when there really ought to be.

See also AllNaturalSnakeOil. For something that actually works, see {{Panacea}}. Compare and contrast SideEffectsInclude.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': King Verence of Lancre and Queen Magrat, for all their savvy and intelligence (Magrat is a ''herbalist''), think that medicine containing "herbs" is better, something enterprising merchants like [[HonestJohnsDealership C.M.O.T. Dibbler]] (and his Ramtops equivalent Lobsang Diblah) are all too eager to cash in on, by shoving whatever random plants they find into bottles of shampoo and calling it a day.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': King Verence of Lancre and Queen Magrat, for all their savvy and intelligence (Magrat is a ''herbalist''), think that medicine containing "herbs" is better, something enterprising merchants like [HonestJohnsDealership C.M.O.T. Dibbler] (and his Ramtops equivalent Lobsang Diblah) are all too eager to cash in on, by shoving whatever random plants they find into bottles of shampoo and calling it a day.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': King Verence of Lancre and Queen Magrat, for all their savvy and intelligence (Magrat is a ''herbalist''), think that medicine containing "herbs" is better, something enterprising merchants like CMOTDibbler (and his Ramtops equivalent Lobsang Diblah) are all too eager to cash in on, by shoving whatever random plants they find into bottles of shampoo and calling it a day.

->''"You can go to [[GrannyClassic your Nan]], who will give you two potions that will restore health, ''and'' magic, AND double your damage. For FREE. 'Nan, your hearty soup is flooding the potion market! Fuck Ganondorf, we need to save ''you'' from having your kneecaps broke by the Potion Teamsters Union!'"''\\
-- '''''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation''''', ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker''

* {{Discworld}}: King Verence of Lancre and Queen Magrat, for all their savvy and intelligence (Magrat is a ''herbalist''), think that medicine containing "herbs" is better, something enterprising merchants like CMOTDibbler (and his Ramtops equivalent Lobsang Diblah) are all too eager to cash in on, by shoving whatever random plants they find into bottles of shampoo and calling it a day.

* The main active ingredient in the weight-loss supplement Hydroxycut is a form of nicotine derived from hemlock. The FDA also recently issued a warning about Hydroxycut causing liver damage; it has since been pulled from store shelves.

** The consumer's lucky if it is Viagra or blood pressure medicine. Many herbal medicines contain drugs that were banned in the West years ago after they were discovered to be unsafe. Others contain veterinary drugs that aren't safe for human use - one recent example contained an antibiotic used to treat horses which in humans could be lethal.

* Valerian, often bought on its own and in conjunction with other herbs as a natural insomnia remedy, does work to help you sleep... and it also brings on depression in people with Major Depressive Disorder, Dysthymia, Bipolar and possibly even in people who were not previously ill. Especially bad as a common symptom of any of the above conditions (and a common side effect of antidepressants, which people with those conditions are likely to be on) is insomnia.

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* {{Discworld}}: King Verence of Lancre and Queen Magrat, for all their savvy and intelligence (Magrat is a ''herbalist''), think that medecine containing "herbs" is better, something entreprising merchants like CMOTDibbler (and his Ramtops equivalent Lobsang Diblah) are all too eager to cash in on, by shoving whatever random plants they find into bottles of shampoo and calling it a day.

See also AllNaturalSnakeOil. For something that actually works, see {{Panacea}}.

** [[{{Metalocalypse}} Bleach is healthy. It's mostly water, and we're mostly water. Therefore, we are bleach]].

* In ''KingOfTheHill'', Hank reacts to herbal tea as if it was a form of illegal drug by calling it "dope".

* ''{{Futurama}}'' episode "Fry and the Slurm Factory", when Bender complains about feeling sick:

->I'm sorry, herbal medicine, oh, "herbal medicine [[AppealToTradition has been around for thousands of years]]", and indeed it has, and then we tested it all, and the stuff that worked became "medicine". And the rest of it is just a nice bowl of soup and some potpourri, so knock yourself out.
-->-- [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=YMvMb90hem8#t=175s Dara O'Briain]]

** Hence the Scaffold's 1967 hit, ''Lily The Pink''

* The original formula for Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound, sold as a cure-all for "female complaints", included some herbs still recommended by alternative medicine for treating menopause symptoms. It was also nearly 40 proof, packing more alcoholic punch than most nonfortified wines. (Mrs Pinkham's competitors used an even higher alcohol content.) In an era when ladies did not drink in public, a couple bottles of Vegetable Compound in the medicine cupboard could give you a very nice buzz without the stigma of being a LadyDrunk -- you're just taking your medicine.

These herbal cures are always packaged similar to modern pharmaceuticals, using plastic bottles or sheets containing pills or capsules. However, none of them have undergone any FDA scrutiny since they don't claim to treat a disease (not even normal food safety requirements), as their disclaimers would tell you [[UnreadableDisclaimer if you could read them]]. That doesn't necessarily mean they don't work, but it means that we cannot be certain that they do; and even if they do, there is also no guarantee of consistency, since plants vary widely in their potency. Testing by consumer protection agencies in several countries has shown that potency of herbal remedies can vary between non-existent to potentially harmful, even between different batches from the same manufacturer; and contamination with harmful substances such as heavy metals and pesticides is a frequent occurrence and the actual levels of the purported active ingredient might even vary.