Herbs, roots and some quackery

[mith]

Today, my dad and I went to the local apothecary to buy some "medicine" for his friend who recently suffered from a stroke. The herbologist recommended this bottle of plasmin. She claimed that it would help thin the blood and prevent blood clots. Interesting, I thought. I looked it up and apparently plasmin was an enzyme that does cleave plasma proteins. I was almost convinced until I realized that this concoction was supposed to be ingested. Hmm...(I'll let you fill in the blanks on this one).

Later we visited another store where this lady tried to peddle the wonderdrug "Cellfood." I had previously seen this at my local Farmer's Market and I was biased against it. The funny thing was the peddler got caught in her own web. She first claimed that this stuff was so powerful that you could only get it by a doctor's prescription...when inquired on how we would be able to procure it, she said that she was willing to sell it anyway. And no she does not have a pharmaceutical license.

Moral of the story: use common sense and do your research.