appleman2006 wrote:There are very good reasons why making health claims is so heavily regulated. The damage that can and does occur when people are sent down the wrong rabbit hole in search of a cure is very real and I have heard doctors and nurses lament over and over how devastating it is to have a patient come to them as a last resort after they have tried every other means when if they had come earlier there chances of a cure would of been much higher.
I agree.
appleman2006 wrote:You are also aware I am sure that all medication is simply a bunch of natural things which are mixed together to form the desired drug or effect. Sometimes it is only a couple of ingredients. More often it is many things mixed together. And after many millions of dollars in research they figure out a chemical or procedure that works. And the only way they get consistency is to test each of the products going into the mixture to ensure that the right and needed properties are there.
I agree. Note: "many millions of dollars"
appleman2006 wrote:I disagree that you could not do the same with one single natural product. Often with enough testing and sorting out you could get a consistent product but it would add tremendously to the cost of the product which would in fact make them not as attractive.
In a way though you defeat your own argument when you state that natural products are not consistent. If that is true than it is because they do not spend the time and money needed to test the properties properly which means they can in no way guarantee the product or make the very claims they want to claim it does.
I think this is where the breakdown happens. I have looked into this and probably didn't explain myself well enough. There are variables within every test that need to be "controlled" for the FDA to be satisfied with exact consistency . Each natural product in fact is different. We can see that with our eyes that they have different looks to them - like humans. What happens with natural products is when I grow vegetables in my garden their are certain nutrients in the soil that are used to grow the plant. There are certain temperatures and amounts or sunlight and rain, that happen during the process of that plants growth. Therefore what we see happen is different concentrations of vitamins and even "impurities" within each individual plant because of environmental differences - there are processes that take place that break things down and a carrot is a carrot but yet not all are the exact same. The apples that grow on the property where we live have a different (even if it isn't only slight difference) vitamin and mineral content as the ones that grow on your property. Natural environments are not "controlled." The guidelines within regulations can be small enough to the point that they cannot okay a product in Ontario as curing cancer because even if it has been proven because if I go and make that product in BC it may in fact not have the same effect or exact amount of the vitamins but yet still contain the same "ingredients"... Now imagine all the variables with all the different climates all over the world, cross pollination's, adaptations, etc...
Eventually you could get to the point that one is using only artificial lighting, chemical soils or none at all but constant liquid chemicals feeding the plants, etc. in developing a very consistent nutrient amount in a natural product - but in fact does not really fit the "natural" definition of what people are looking for anymore and also could be more costly anyway(as you said).
And like I said earlier it is accepted as scientific fact by scientists that an element that is not identifiably different to them in comparing one naturally made and the other chemically made actually can react different when placed in solutions for testing. Makes it even harder to get certification from FDA.
appleman2006 wrote:And I am sorry. To argue that you could not make money selling a natural product that works and has been properly approved makes no sense at all to me.
I hope I addressed this sufficiently above...?
appleman2006 wrote:Even many so called natural medicines at this point have several ingredients mixed together. Mixing plants and minerals together for medicinal purposes is almost as old as time itself.
Of course.
appleman2006 wrote:Thankfully the process is a lot more scientific today due to the fact that we are able to break down an individual product's properties much more precisely than in previous times.
I agree. But we would do well not to disregard synergistic qualities that God has placed together within natural products that are often overlooked or not tested. Not to say that all natural products are good either - we live in a fallen world. However this has also confused a lot of people that don't understand science much.
I have heard people say, "Chlorine is poison, and should never be consumed!"
You don't find many people saying, "Don't eat sodium chloride, it has poisonous chlorine in it that should never be consumed!"
(For those who don't know I am talking about sodium chloride is salt - if we don't have salt the synapses in our bodies cannot happen - without it we die.)
I have read enough about intentional lies on both sides of natural and mainstream health products with years of looking into things before becoming a Christian and both are used for evil. We would do well to be like the Berean's and take an honest look ourselves at some of the facts and consider is what I want to say.
Lots of deceit and twisting of science happening to prove a point - just like anyone can allow or condemn just about anything from scripture...
I am very concerned by what I see in some conservative churches (not all and not anyone on here) with telling me they trust God with their health while just believing whatever mainstream secular science says about health, while the secular sources are saying out the other side of their mouth about evolution taking place... Not to say that because they fail at some points that they have it
all wrong either... But there is a progressive attitude in not being responsible that can be seen. At the same time my family does use and need mainstream health products too.
We need to work out our own health and be responsible for it. When we eat junk and don't live a healthy lifestyle and then take the mainstream drugs to get quick fixes I just don't see the consistency or even the trust in God? I have learned this the hard way... I see others doing the same and maybe I should let them learn that way too?...
And if working for the kingdom doesn't give you the time to look into things then ignore this and continue on.