BIO101: Analysis of Herbal Medicine and Cancer Treatment Options

This assignment, part of BIO101, explores the use of herbal medicine in treating cancer. It emphasizes the potential risks associated with relying on herbal remedies, especially compared to conventional treatments like radiation and chemotherapy. The assignment highlights that many herbal supplements lack rigorous testing, may contain unknown ingredients, and can interfere with other medications or cause adverse effects. Furthermore, it references sources such as cancer.org and cancerresearchuk.org, which state that herbal medicines often lack evidence to support their effectiveness in preventing, treating, or curing cancer. The assignment concludes by cautioning against substituting conventional cancer therapies with herbal alternatives due to the lack of proven benefits and the potential for harm. Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students.

BIOS101-OA General Biology
Running Head: COMMERCIAL LAW 0
3 / 2 6 / 2 0 2 0
Student’s Name

BIOS101-OA General Biology 1
There is no doubt in agreeing with the fact that mainstream and traditional way of
treatment for cancer such as radiation, surgery or chemotherapy can be unpleasant for patients.
These are the only proven method and people who give up these or rely on alternatives may put
their health at greater risk. Many people use herbal supplements as an alternative cure but this is
to state that many times where such herbal products have been tested, they have found containing
less or sometimes almost no ingredient mentioned on the pack (cancer.org, 2020). Further, the
medical authorities do not examine these herbal remedies and many of these cause kidney as
well as liver damages. In addition to this, many of the herbal remedies cause dangerous blood
pressure to the patient and in such a situation, they do not even remain capable to switch to
traditional cancer therapy.
To discuss the other harms which herbal medicines possess to cancer patient this is to
state that they are likely to increase the effectiveness of cancer drug. In addition to this, they also
interfere with other drugs and generate an adverse impact on the cancer patient. At last, there is
no reliable evidence proving that herbal medicine can prevent, treat, or cure any type of cancer
(cancerresearchuk.org, 2020). Since these over the counter herbal alternatives do not assure any
cure hence relying on the same or ignoring conventional cancer therapy does not seem a good
decision.

BIOS101-OA General Biology 2
References
cancer.org. (2020) Complementary and Alternative Methods and Cancer. Retrieved From:
https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/CRC/PDF/Public/8077.00.pdf
cancerresearchuk.org. (2020) Herbal medicine. Retrieved From:
https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/cancer-in-general/treatment/
complementary-alternative-therapies/individual-therapies/herbal-medicine