Are herbal formulas safe?
Plants that enjoy broad culinary and therapeutic usage are generally safe. We can flavor our food with any number of herbal preparations to make a meal more flavorful. We can appreciate a delicious cup of peppermint leaf or ginger root tea, or benefit from the soothing properties of marshmallow root or the bark of slippery elm. We can take a supplement containing dandelion root or saw palmetto berries, or any number of the other formulas. Although allergies and reactions have been recorded for a few herbs that are widely used in foods and supplements, such individual concerns are also seen with many foods, and do not diminish the safety profile of the many herbs that are generally recognized as safe. On the other hand, and as everyone knows, there are any number of plants that are highly toxic, even deadly. Every ten-year-old hiker knows to stay away from poison ivy (Toxicodendron spp.) when walking in the woods. The death sentence imposed on Socrates by an Athenian jury 2400 years ago
