EU Declares Peppermint a Controllable Herb

[irishspirit]

In its ongoing efforts to make absolutely certain that every aspect of every person's life is controlled in the minutest detail, the European Union is examining every herb to determine whether there's even the slightest hint of a chance it might be either harmful or useful. To this end, peppermint has been classified as a controllable medicinal herb.(1)

That sounds like the start of a farce, of an article meant to be a joke. It isn't. It has really happened. The EU has listed Mentha x piperita, common peppermint, for regulation as a medicinal herb. The only thing that could make this worse would be for someone to claim that it can be of benefit in a serious disease.

Oops! We may have a problem. Peppermint is known to be beneficial in irritable bowel syndrome and spastic conditions of the bile duct, both of which might be considered serious conditions. Conveniently, the EU has not defined the term "serious condition", so we can't yet be sure.

If either irritable bowel syndrome or spastic condition of the bile duct is seen as a serious condition, then peppermint could be banned. The EU's Traditional Medicinal Herbal Products Directive (THMPD) will not allow herbs to be sold for "serious" conditions.

http://www.gaia-health.com/articles301/000327-eu-declares-peppermint-controllable-herb.shtml

[Malcolm Linus]

Thanks EU. Now I know what to stock up on and use as a part of my physical healing.

[irishspirit]

nerV, So true. Just watch the propaganda machine that is the media hype this one up. Bet they link it to swine flu.

[Anchor]

This wikipedia article is more informative http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Directive_on_Traditional_Herbal_Medicinal_Products

Even though the OP refers to an article dated 2010, the act was passed in 2004.

Here is the text of the act http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32004L0024:EN:NOT

[Flash]

Hi, I am a new member - this topic reached me so much that I got my membership to be able to participate. As a new member, I must first present myself, then up with peppermint.

I have been following the forum for 3 years, as many readers of this forum surely do. I did not become a member for lack of time to make thorough research before writing although I would have made comments quite a few times. Also, the brains and hearts in this forum are so outstanding that I was feeling a bit "not at par with the rest". So please, bare with me, I may be just short of mensa?, and for those having a "fit" with bad English writing, bare more because this is not my mothertongue but my second or third language. However, I am glad to be with you all.

From Irish Spirit[nerV, So true. Just watch the propaganda machine that is the media hype this one up. Bet they link it to swine flu] - how do you copy the text from previous posts and put it in those blue rectangles???

As for peppermint being or becoming a controlled substance in EU (bet America will follow), I was making a different kind of link, based on getting malnourished through small intestinal mal absorption due to increased genetic modification of plants, namely wheat, and control over substances that may enhance small intestine nutrient absorption such as peppermint. In other words, we are caught at both ends. To explain my thoughts, I have to introduce you to celiac disease and gluten intolerance. This has been on the increase (substantially) for the last 20-30 years and it hampers nutrient absorption through the small intestine, even causing leaky guts and therefore leaky brains, as well as autoimmune disease.


A Minnesota study using frozen blood samples taken from Air Force recruits 50 years ago has found that intolerance of wheat gluten, a debilitating digestive condition, is four times more common today than it was in the 1950s

"http://
www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/49558522.html"]


For people with celiac disease, ingesting even tiny amounts of gluten can set off an autoimmune reaction that flattens the finger-like villi lining the small intestine. The most common symptoms are bloating, gas, diarrhea and constipation, as well as early osteoporosis. The autoimmune reaction can also cause skin rashes, chronic fatigue, bone and joint pain, neurological problems, liver problems, diabetes, infertility in both men and women and cancers, including lymphoma. An estimated three million Americans have celiac disease—and the vast majority don't know it because it can have no symptoms or mimic other diseases.

Separately, a smaller group of people have a specific allergy to wheat; exposure can lead to rashes, asthma and even anaphylactic shock.

A third category of people—as many as 20 million Americans—appear to be sensitive to gluten without having full-blown celiac disease. For them, symptoms may be less typical, involving depression, mental fogginess, mood swings and behavior changes. Much less is known about this group. But researchers are evaluating antibodies to gliadin, a gluten component, as a possible biomarker. About 7% of the population has these anti-gliadin antibodies (AGA); intriguingly, so do 18% of people with autism, and 20% of people with schizophrenia, according to Dr. Fasano's studies


And what does peppermint do: sooths the small intestine being an antispasmodic and helps digestion trhough the small intestine. It is also an anti cancer agent, helps against candida, and more.

[URL="http://www.elements4health.com/peppermint-health-benefits.html"]

Therefore, start with those having autoimmune sensitivity or/and with autistics, with schizophrenics and the like, spread gluten everywhere you can (believe me, it is in about every process food), decrease nutrient absorption of 20 million peoples in US alone, increase their immune reaction with new adjuvent in vaccines and slowly get rid of them through malnutrition and lack of resistance to disease. I also read that a lot of people from a lot of countries did not use gluten or wheat formerly in their diet (all of Asia, Central and South America their main grain being rice and corn) and that their system may be less tolerant to gluten. Thus they may be fragile to gluten all get all what comes with that intolerance. This form of thinking I had is so perverted that I want to think that it is not planned action but side effect of bad planning and ignorance from those implementing genetic modification of wheat (researchers thinking they will better feed the planet and offer survival to the poor (may be true if they are not gluten intolerant).

Anyone having comments or new information on the above???

thank you for reading me

ps. I bet I could not post the link properly nor the quotes, please help - i need a "how to" dictionary. Tks

God yes it takes time to write a post, Bill is not exagerating when mentioning 1 hour for non english speakers.

[astrid]

Flash welcome !! To reply with quotes from someone elses post, click on the "reply with quote " tab under their post, its bottom right hand side, opposite to the thanks button!

[Seikou-Kishi]

Or just bookend the quote with
and

—Edit—
I can't believe I didn't see that coming -.- how stupid was that? Lol. Any moderator willing to be merciful and delete my stupid post would have my gratitude XD