Denis : Yeah . Well , this is a difficult question to answer . The good thing about herbal medicine is the vast range and diversity of herbs that are available to us and the way in which in the modern world , with its interactions of ideas , and cultures , and people , what is lost is sometimes compensated for by other herbs which share many of their characteristics , and in some cases are even more effective . So while I ' m disappointed that we have lost some herbs , I do understand that there might be some reconsideration of uva ursi , though don ’ t hold me to this . I ' m not as down in the mouth about things because , my own style of herbalism incorporates remedies that compensate to a degree for the loss of herbs like uva ursi . I have used , and would still use , uva ursi , but I have found that the herb that ' s known as java kidney tea , popularly used throughout Southeast Asia , has many of the same possibilities for the kidney and the urinary tract that uva ursi has , and I would suspect that I ’ m using more of that herb in my practice today than uva ursi . It would still be very common for me to prescribe a combination of buchu and uva ursi , say , for the management of urinary tract conditions .
But in the absence of uva ursi I have been getting good feedback and results by using buchu in conjunction with java kidney tea , or orthosiphon stamineus by its botanical name . So I don ' t like the way we seem to be losing this herb or that , but I come back to the point that herbal medicine is bigger than some bureaucrat saying “ you can ' t use this herb or that herb .’ Being an Australian herbal medicine practitioner today , we have a lot more at our fingertips due to the cultural change , the interchange of ideas that ’ s happened in Australia in my 40 years of practice to compensate for these losses .
Andrew : Indeed , in your career , you ' ve had a number of fights with governments who wished to restrict the practice of herbal medicine . So you engage patients to contact their politicians , correct ?
Denis : I think that what I have done has been represented by most of the associations , that when we have been , threatened by government bureaucracies , when bad press has emerged that we feel is unfounded , I together with the associations , have encouraged my patients to put pen to paper to express their dissent from intentions that would be against the best interests of natural or herbal medicine . I would come back and say in that way , I would like to think that as a school , rather than as an individual , and as an executive member of some of the associations , yes , I ' ve contributed to ringing alarm bells , for getting people motivated , to take issue with those who make decisions about these things .
Andrew : Denis , there ' s so much that has transpired in your career and that you ' ve brought to other practitioners and indeed for the whole profession . I can ' t thank you enough for taking us through just a snippet of your mind today .
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