werner@aecom.UUCP (Craig Werner) (10/18/86)
>>In several interviews with officials of the F.D.A., there was a clear >>indication that if aspirin had to be cleared today, that the F.D.A. >>would make aspirin a controlled substance. > Prescription, maybe. Controlled, you've got your definitions wrong. >>There is a more "effective" form of the active ingredient in aspirin >>which is made from boiling birch or aspen bark. Before "modern >>medicine", this "tea" was often given to patients for fever and >>pain. The instability and impurities however made the practice >>very dangerous. It was not uncommon to get the equivelant of >>2000 mg. (4 extra strength tablets) in a single cup. Two or three >>cups of this "tea" could be quite interesting. > Ahhhh, modern myths again. Actually, the purification of Asprin and the introduction of "Salicylate Tea" happened approximately contemporalily in Europe. The practicing of chewing Salicylate bark by Indians was centuries old, however. Secondly, Salicylate Acid (the natural form) is in fact less effective than Acetosalicylic Acid and has more GI side effects. Besides, in the body within 15 minutes, all the Aspirin is deacetylated to Salicylic Acid anyway (and that deacetylation step is very important for its therapeutic effect.) So much for the more "effective" natural version. Thirdly, the toxic threshold of Aspirin is 7-10 grams, so one would need 4-5 cups of this tea, but that's just being picky. -- Craig Werner (MD/PhD '91) !philabs!aecom!werner (1935-14E Eastchester Rd., Bronx NY 10461, 212-931-2517) I'll also entertain gifts,knick-knacks,offers of money, & proposals of marriage