Herbalism in Turkey

Interesting article from Today’s Zaman.*

A prominent herbalist in Turkey, Şeref Menteşe, has lambasted drug companies, saying the side effects of commonly prescribed drugs have resulted in too many illnesses in the country, costing billions of dollars for the treatment of toxins released from the drugs.

The son of an immigrant worker in Germany, Menteşe pursued a degree in medicine but dropped out during his senior year after realizing how drug companies interact with future doctors and surgeons during their schooling. “One day, we were told experts from drug companies would brief us on how to write prescriptions for drugs. That was the day I realized there was a huge conflict of interest between doctors and big pharmaceutical companies. I said to myself this is not the way to go about healing patients under the influence and directives of drug lords,” he recalls.

Read the rest of the article here.
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About Today’s Zaman
I welcome all our readers across the world who are keenly interested in developments in Turkey and its immediate geographic vicinity. The editorial staff and I are well aware of the fact that this paper, in both its print and Web editions, is being closely followed by a great number of people all over the world on a daily basis. The reason is simple yet also complex: Turkey stands at the world’s geographic and political crossroads. In recent years it has become one of the most closely followed and frequently discussed countries.