Friday, February 10, 2006 Pulaski Inn of Cudahy 3900 East Pulaski Avenue Cudahy, WI

DIRECTIONS

Folk medicines have been demonstrated to exert a powerful governing force on many cultures of the world today. In these days of scientific knowledge and reasoned logic, belief in folk medicine (herbalism) is still strong, and many people have great faith in herbal products. The use of herbal products is increasing among the general population for a wide variety of ailments and fills a niche in the field of alternative medicine. This is occurring because many of the population have suffered a loss of faith in contemporary medicine and have found that the use of herbalism, oriental medicine, and a variety of therapeutic procedures can provide a mechanism of health care that better suits their needs than does that of the HMOs and managed care systems. Just what constitutes herbalism or folk medicine? Is it safe? Why does it exist? Humans love to experiment with self-medication, and people have used a wide variety of substances, some extremely noxious, until findings a variety of plants and other natural substances that alleviated their miseries or raised their spirits. Many of the products currently in vogue go back to Grandma's medicine chest. How good are these products? These home remedies were passed from generation to generation and evolved as specifics for defined diseases. Can we lower health costs with these cures? How useful are many of these products? Are they safe? How good are such products as boneset, mullein, tansy, echinacea, kava - kava, St. John's wort, valerian, jewelweed, ginkgo, and garlic? I will review and discuss many of the herbal products being suggested today and try to explain their rational use and decide if they are toxic.

Ralph Blomster received his B.S. from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, his M.S. from the University of Pittsburgh, and his Ph.D. 1963 University of Connecticut. He is currently Professor Emeritus in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of Maryland at Baltimore since 1996, where he was professor and chairman from 1968 to 1979. Previously he was Professor of Pharmacognosy at the University of Pittsburgh and a Lederle Research Fellow (1961-1962). Ralph's teaching interests Pharmacognosy; Microbiology; Antibiotics; Natural Products Chemistry, Herbalism, and Alternative Medicine, Biosynthesis, Phytochemistry (Isolation of biologically active substances from plants), and Chemotaxonomy. His areas of research include Phytochemistry, Medicinal Folklore Evaluation , Phytochemical Screening Collection and Extraction of Native Plants for Biological Testing Indexing, Storage and Retrieval of Phytochemical Literature, Drug Plant Exploration in Primative Geographic Areas, Plant Tissue Culture and Biotransformations he has been an invited speaker for the American Chemical Society Speakers Bureau since 1972.