Today, when the herbal treatment fashion has flashed with renewed vigor, many traditional healers are introducing a hemlock plant into their potions. Contraindications, which they “forget” to warn their patients, often very negatively affect the health of gullible people. On many pseudo-medical Internet sites you can find recommendations on the use of this poisonous plant for the preparation of sedative tinctures, drugs for alleviating asthma, eliminating nocturnal pollutions, dysmenorrhea, and renal colic. On the pages devoted to homeopathy, they argue about the beneficial effect of the plant with cough, fibroma, cystitis and dozens of other diseases. Many recommend using hemlock to treat cancer. Contraindications on these sites are not indicated. But in vain. The use of this plant for the manufacture of medicines on the territory of our country is officially prohibited by the Ministry of Health. For the reason that the roots and leaves and stems of the plant are deadly poisonous. This was known even in Ancient Greece, where the juice of the hemlock plant was used for official executions. Side effects from the "treatment" of these plants are listed in pharmacological guides. They show that even the smallest doses of this “medicine” can lead to the most terrible consequences, among which
- nausea, progressive salivation, dizziness;
- respiratory depression, cramps, respiratory arrest;
- paralysis, choking.
This is not a complete list of the consequences that may occur if consumed inside tinctures, which include the hemlock herb. External treatment is less dangerous, but we must remember that even the ingress of the juice of this plant on the skin causes a serious burn.
In animal husbandry, cases of mass poisoning of livestock by “stinky grass” or Conium maculatum (L.) are known — this is another name for hemlock.
Perhaps, among the medicinal herbs growing in Russia, there is no more that would cause so many disputes. Even reputable scientists to this day break their spears, trying to prove their case.
Some of them claim that it is possible to use hemlock grass to strengthen immunity, defeat cancerous tumors, and get rid of many diseases caused by the body’s reduced resistance to negative influences. Contraindications, representatives of this opinion claim, are completely absent if the dosage of the medicine containing this potion is correctly selected.
Their opponents categorically declare that even if there is any benefit from the use of this plant, the risk of death outweighs its positive qualities. Therefore, before introducing the plant into the composition of the preparations, you need to think twice.
The third group of scientists completely rejects previous opinions about the use of hemlock grass. Contraindications, they insist, do not exist, because the plant is deadly poisonous and to use or use it in any form is also deadly.
Hemlock, which has several species, is distributed around the world. In other countries, it is known as kuniyun, tsikuta, milestone, shavkaran, bit. There are hemlock spotted and swamp.
This biennial plant presents a special danger not only in finished preparations. Young rosettes of cycloids are very reminiscent of parsley, so if a plant appears in the garden, it is easy to confuse it with grass popular in cooking. And a dose of just 1 gram is enough to get fatal poisoning.
Of course, any person has the right to choose a doctor or a healer. But before being treated with fashionable means, it’s worth repeatedly thinking about whether to risk your health, trusting the healers? Or it’s worth looking through medical guides and taking into account the opinion of official medicine, which prohibits the use of deadly hemlock herb.