"The government has the responsibility to see that all products sold in the country are safe and do what they are suppoesd to do. That applies to food, drugs, lawnmowers and even guns. The government does not have the right to tell us which reliable, serviceable products we can buy."

So what's your problem, pdq? The question, up for discussion in this thread, is: have herbal medicines been tested? And in most cases the answer appears to be 'no' - therefore these substances should not be on sale.

"You also cannot assume that a Big Pharma-produced drug that has gone through required testing and approval processes is SAFE - as evidenced by numerous recalls, bans and class-action lawsuits."

I'm not disputing that, 'michaelr' but:

1) Most herbal medicines have not been tested at all.

2) No area of life is free from risk.

So what you appear to be saying is that because there is an element of risk associated with taking tested drugs we should all start taking untested drugs instead?