THE GREEN PHARMACY: THE ULTIMATE COMPENDIUM OF NATURAL REMEDIES FROM THE WORLD'S FOREMOST AUTHORITY ON HEALING HERBS.
James A. Duke
(St. Martin's Paperbacks, 1998, 617 pages, $6.99, softcover)
Herbs-as-medicine are now gaining a lot of attention, and millions of people are turning to herbs as a form of self-care in a time of rising health-care costs. With a growing sense of cynicism and distrust of allopathic medicine, many people are looking for natural, simple alternatives. Enter James Duke.
Duke is widely considered the world's leading authority on medicinal plants. He began accumulating his immense knowledge of plants during his childhood in Alabama and North Carolina -- and he took his passion for plants to school in 1961 he finished his Ph.D. in botany at the University of North Carolina. Combine this academic grounding with Duke's vast experience as an ethnobotanist working for the USDA for 30 years, his knowledge of healing traditions gathered in traveling the globe on plant-collecting trips and in years of tromping through jungles with local healers in exotic locations like Panama and Peru--and you have a leading world authority. Among his many 'retirement' activities (which include maintaining online databases and herbal gardens, writing, lecturing, and advising manufacturers of herbal products and publications like the Reader's Digest), Duke leads trips to the Peruvian Amazon, teaching pharmacists, doctors, and other health professionals about the use of medicinal herbs.
You needn't be a health professional to appreciate Duke's The Green Pharmacy. This wonderful guide helps people reclaim some control over their own health. From Anise for Asthma to Violet for Varicose Veins, Duke provides an A to Z list of more than 120 health conditions and scores of natural remedies that can replace or enhance costly pharmaceuticals. He provides commonsense advice regarding lifestyle and diet to help prevent pathologies in the first place. And he includes folk remedies, along with scientific findings and personal stories--a very entertaining read!
The following two excerpts give you a glimpse of the entertaining and personal style of this useful and authoritative book:
'A few years ago, I was interviewed for Dan Rather's Eye on America program.... In another segment of the same program, Rather interviewed the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), David Kessler, M.D. The program showed me in my habitual fieldwork environment, on location in Ecuador, wearing my exotic jungle garb. Dr. Kessler was shown in his office wearing his usual coat and tie. Although we never actually met or debated on that program, the difference in our garb spoke volumes.
'Dr. Kessler and I disagreed about herbs and nutritional supplements. He has come down rather hard on them, while I am convinced that they can be useful....
'When Dan Rather's producer called, he asked me what questions Rather should ask Dr. Kessler. I told him to have Rather offer Dr. Kessler a bottle of prune juice and ask if he considered it a safe, effective laxative. If he answered no, I suggested that Rather request that Dr. Kessler drink some and experience the results for himself. If he answered yes, I suggested that Rather ask why the FDA prohibits prune juice marketers from labeling prune juice as a safe, effective, gentle laxative.' (from the chapter on constipation)
'Once when Mrs. Duke was experiencing dizziness, she went to the doctor. She came home with an $18 packet of TransDerm Scop--stick-on patches... that administered the drug scopolamine by absorption through the skin. For quite a while, scopolamine was the standard medication for dizziness and motion sickness.
'Little did Peggy know that she could have gotten scopolamine much more cheaply by gathering some plants in our front yard. My jimsonweed (Datura stramonium) and cultivated ornamental Daturaspecies all contain scopolamine, although perhaps less than the pharmaceutical.
'Personally, I wouldn't recommend scopolamine, even from natural sources, for dizziness. It may work, but it can also cause [serious] side effects.... I prefer ginger for seasickness, motion sickness, morning sickness and anything else that can cause dizziness or vertigo.' (from the chapter on dizziness)
The Green Pharmacy concludes with a brief autobiography of Duke's fascinating life, with section titles such as 'A Children's Garden of Delight,' 'The Call of the Wild' the 'Reluctant Academic,' and 'Surviving in the Jungle.'
Duke lives in Maryland, two miles from the site of the new Tai Sophia campus. He spends many hours in his medicinal herb garden, tending his green friends and sharing his love of healing plants with those who come to experience the magic of the Green Pharmacy.
