*Ø* A fatal mix

Alert over fatal mix of herbal pills and medicines

From The Times, 3 July:

"Thousands of people are risking their lives by mixing herbal remedies with common prescription drugs.

"Of the 10,000 deaths caused by adverse reactions to prescription drugs every year, a 'significant number' were likely to have been caused by patients mixing their treatments with complementary medicines, doctors’ leaders said yesterday ...

"'What was really striking was that one in five people is taking something and nine out of ten are not discussing it with their doctor,' Dr Smith, a GP in Somerset, said.

"'If complementary medicines were perfectly safe and had been thoroughly tested, there wouldn’t be a problem. But most of these medications remain untested and unresearched. This is potentially very dangerous.'" [my emphasis - N]

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