Tag: The United States Of America

The map depicts different plant species that grew in each state of the United States in the 1930’s. It was printed by the National Wholesale Druggists’ Association, and serves as a fascinating reminder that, in our not-so-distant past, medicine was one hundred percent natural. Different herbs and plants were prescribed for different diseases, and people knew that healing takes time. When the 1938 Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act was passed, however, the landscape of medicine changed, and a federal regulation was put into place to govern the production of new medicines. The pharmaceutical industry completely took over, and our knowledge of herbal medicines was lost and shunned. As a result of these regulatory changes, medicine relying on synthetic chemistry took over, and pharmacists lost the ability to prepare medicine straight from the earth.

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