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In reply to the discussion: Neil DeGrasse Tyson Tells Bill Maher That Anti-Science Liberals Are Full of Shit Too [View all]Major Nikon
(36,877 posts)That's why I was careful to say efficacy beyond the placebo effect. Many modern medicines are produced from the extracts of botanical ingredients and other synthetic compounds which are engineered to recreate botanical ingredients, so there's no question some herbs do work. However, the vast majority of "herbal remedies" are simply quackery.
When I visited China I took a tour of an Eastern medicine "pharmacy". It was pretty interesting in that they had more witches brew type stuff than you could shake a stick at, most of it was wrapped up in very attractive packaging designed to mimic what you might find in a modern pharmacy and sold behind glass counters by people wearing white coats. So there's a lot invested in making people think the stuff works, and I suppose you can say the same thing at some level for modern medicine.