From:
TANSY
Date: 2001-05-08 16:59:00 UTC
Subject: RE: [Ferret-Health-list] Re: Devil's Club Supreme :A
proposal aka tansy gets delusional
> It is certainly not my intent to condemn ferrets to not being able to
> get an efficacious medicine, however, I cannot manufacture a reason
> to believe in efficacy if none exists. I do not hide the fact that I
> am skeptical of herbal remedies, and I generally do not discourage
> their use. But I will not endorse a product in the absence of any
> studies that show that it indeed works, in any species.
>
>
> With kindest regards,
>
> Bruce H. Williams, DVM, DACVP
>
Dr Williams,as a person who also originally came from a scientific
background, I can appreciate the frustration in a lack of a study to back up
the results being seen. Unfortunately, I do not have the resources to set up
a truly randomized double-blind study on this issue, but I AM willing to
"put my money where my mouth is" so to speak, and set up and monitor a
database of insulinomic ferrets both receiving or not receiving Devil's Club
as part of their treatment. This would require collecting various baseline
data on the ferrets, especially blood sugar levels, recording any treatments
recieved, and then remonitoring the blood sugar levels. I am willing and
able to set up such a research protocol, BUT I can't do it unless the people
on this list would be willing to provide me with this information.
Obviously, in the end, we still wouldn't know WHY Devil's Club works, but
would certainly have a more reliable basis to say that it does or not than
just anecdotes. So, campers, are those of you with ferrets with insulinomas
willing to participate in this?
I will await with bated breath to see what response I get<g>.
tansy