It seems that now the entire cosmetic and produce manufacturers have become " Green." The only question I have is this- "Are you really interested in green or organic because is the current in thing, the profit line at the end of the fiscal year, or are they seriously interested in giving a better product?"
For years, many of us have been making and selling organic products that do not have petro-chemicals in them, and over time developed a loyal eco-friendly customer base. We were not able to sell our products as cheaply as many retailers because fact that we did not use man made chemicals, which were much cheaper.
What we do use are ingredients, used for thousands of years, which been proven to work. Yet now, many of these same products, produced by nature herself, have become banned due to "harmful" side effects. Oddly, many of these same plants are the basis of many medicines we use today.
Many Eastern medicines are also based upon these same ingredients and have been in use for generations. Through research on artifacts found in ancient Egyptian tombs, many of the herbs we use today were used then and for the same type of medical problems.
With the rise of Christianity and later, what is now modern western medicine, those who practiced herbal or organic healing methods were banned and considered be from the devil's workshop. If it was not supported by the church, people were told it was evil, and those who used these cures, minions or followers of the devil.
Now, with our growing interest in natural, non-invasive cures, we are once again turning to those wise in the herbal or natural ways of healing. Those who do handmade organic products are beginning to fall by the wayside due to government regulations and expensive commercials being produced by the cosmetic companies.
Now, to make matters even more complicated, there is talk saying we would have to purchase our Herbal products from the large pharmaceutical companies, who then would have a stranglehold; they can set prices how much can be purchas e d and who could purchase.
The giant cosmetic manufacturers and the government are beginning to be like the church of old, if they can't regulate it they will kill it. The only way they can accomplish that is to regulate herbs and other items those who produce handcrafted organic personal products.
The uses of herbs have and will be kept alive. As long as we can go to the grocery store, or the neighborhood food stand, we will keep the legacy going. Just look at any recipe in any cook book, the plants we grow in our gardens, or the wildflowers growing by the roadside. Herbs are a natural and integral part of our lives.
Nature put herbs there for the use of mankind. Remember that aspirin, something we use daily and is recommended by the AMA, is the product of the willow tree. Native Peoples were using the inner part of the tree long before this country was discovered by Europeans. It is unfortunate that today those areas do not exist due to companies clear cutting the trees in order to have a nice bottom line on their ledgers.
With deforestation, what natural cures are we destroying? Will we loose natural cures for cancer, high blood pressure, strokes, memory loss, Alzheimer's? Only time will tell.
But, as long as herbs grow, we will continue their use and, hopefully, pass down the knowledge to our next generation.
2008 Michele Winslow
Michele Winslow has been writing poetry and short stories since grade school. Following in her grandmother's footsteps she has been blending herbal teas since the early 1960's. For the last twenty years she has been making facial, bath and body products using natural organic products.
Of course the companies would drop organics in an instant if it didn't satisfy the bottom line. And you can bet big Pharma will try to control it and the government will let them if we are not watchful and vocal. Thanks for reminding us.
this was an interesting article. i didn't realize the church had such a hand in determining medicines. ridiculous. thank you for sharing, and keep writing,
Interesting article, Michelle. I use natural or compounded medications as much as possible. I've not heard about any church discouraging use of natural cures, but then, many things have been done in the name of Christianity that were anything but good. I never considered deforestation, mainly because responsible parties will continue to plant. Thanks for the info.
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