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Herbalism safety: working with plants that harm and heal
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SAN FRANCISCO –Last week, officials announced that a woman here had died after ingesting a toxic herbal tea, and a man who also drank a brew prepared from herbs sold at the same shop, was hospitalized in critical condition before recovering. According to local news coverage, the culprit was the herb aconite, which has a variety of common names including wolf’s bane and fuzi. While this plant can be highly toxic without processing, with proper care it is a staple of Chinese herbal medicine. The two victims in San Francisco purchased different tea blends that were mixed at Sun Wing Wo Trading Company, each of which included unprocessed aconite. Tests of both the herbal blends and the victims’ blood confirmed aconite as the toxic agent.