Prescriptions for Herbal Remedies?

Prescriptions for Herbal Remedies?

Exclusive (12/28/2000) A generous humanitarian want to help you protect your right to buy herbal remedies without a prescription. Yeah, right, this scam has more holes in it than a block of swiss cheese (which, coincidentally is more American than this message).

SAMPLE CHAIN LETTER TEXT Subj: Herbal prescriptions made mandatory? Date: 12/27/00 10:14:38 PM Mountain Standard Time From: LANETNEWS">PLANETNEWS BCC: Sh0shanna @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ PLANETNEWS broadcast... From: Tuesday, December 26, 2000 2:10 AM Herbal prescriptions made mandatory? +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ AN OMINOUS SCHEME IS AFOOT Will all those who feel powerless to change things please signify by maintaining their usual silence. A bill is being drawn up which will be appended to a complicated HMO bill which will not be controversial. Both sides of the aisle want to reign in some of the abuses of the HMOs. So far, so good. If this bill slips through the F.D.A. will be empowered to regulate natural (herbal) products. Yep, you will need a prescription to get your echinacea, etc. It would devastate the health food industry while lining the pockets of physicians. We have the email addresses of all of the Senators and Congressmen. We wrote some unique software which can send an email to each legislator. The email appears to have come from you. It is tempting to just do it but, without your permission, that would be deceptive and downright unethical. With our large subscriber base we can probably stop this outrage in its tracks. Imagine a legislator receiving 30+ thousand emails demanding that this nefarious appendage be removed from what is otherwise a good bill. WILL YOU SPEND 30 SECONDS TO HAVE YOUR VOICE HEARD? If you share our conviction that herbs remain unregulated then all you must do is : 1. Send and E-Mail to Jon5454@yahoo.com 2. Type "Herbs - A prescription item? in the Subject Box 3. Type OK in the text box (The OK will give Jon your permission for him to send an e-mail to all senators and congressmen asking them to remove the clause in the new bill that will require us to have a prescription to buy herbs.) If you will take a few minutes and forward this to your friends, or post on a news/discussion group we will gain thousands of new voices. If you choose not to respond, then perhaps you have no problem with paying your physician $50 or more for a prescription for your favourite herbal remedy. Thank You. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

END CHAIN LETTER TEXT

The first question that crossed my mind is: Why would I need to send my e-mail address to a total stranger to do something that would be so much more effective if I did it myself? The second question: Is what he claims even possible? And, third question: why does this fellow, presumably an American, spell "favorite" like a European?

While the FDA would like to regulate herbal remedies in the U.S., there has so far been no legislative move as described in this letter. There has, however, been such a move in Europe.

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This message originated in Europe and, somewhere along the line, was altered with references to the FDA and congress to appeal to American audiences. Presumably, this is the handiwork of "Jon." But, doesn't it seem odd that he has written sophisticated e-mail sending software, but has a free Yahoo! mail account? If this person has all the congressmen's e-mail addresses (which, coincidentally, are available on the congress web site), why not just start a web site that lists them, or one of those popular (though utterly ineffective) e-mail petitions? Besides, my dealings with legislators and politicians tells me that "30+ thousand" e-mails have no more impact than 30 since most of them only pay attention to the first few and ignore the rest.

It's possible that this person isn't doing anything remotely like what he claims he's doing. Instead, he could be gathering e-mail addresses of unsuspecting respondents for either his own nefarious use, or worse - compiling an e-mail list that he plans to sell to spammers. Further demonstrating that it may not be on the up-and-up are the bullying and demeaning lines at the end that try to shame you into propagating the scam. Protect yourself, Break this Chain!

Category: Armchair Activism
References: None