• anon@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    You’re almost right. Modern medicine needs to synthesize natural compounds to profit fully from them. They can’t just use natural remedies and present them to patients because they can’t patent them.

    • TheActualDevil@sffa.community
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      1 year ago

      I’m sure that’s a major part of it, but I also wouldn’t want to live in a world where we could only get aspirin from willow bark. We either wouldn’t have enough aspirin or we wouldn’t have any more willow trees. Medicines derived from the actual source aren’t possible on a global scale in most cases.

      Capitalism is a blight on society and has lead to countless deaths. But in a utopia where money doesn’t exist and people create medicine for the world only to help people with no profit they still need to synthesize it.

      • anon@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        major part of it, but I also wouldn’t want to live in a world where we could only get aspirin from willow bark. We either wouldn’t have enough aspirin or we wouldn’t have any more willow trees. Medicines derived from the actual source aren’t possible on a global scale in most cases.

        Capitalism is a blight on society and has lead to countless deaths. But in a utopia where money doesn’t exist and people create medicine for the world only to help people wit

        I agree with you but in that case, the need to synthesize it could be made entirely based on practicality rather than profit.

    • Otter@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Not all countries have for profit medicine though. I’m sure it’s a factor, but it’s not a universal thing.

      There are other reasons why “natural” remedies get more scrutiny in the medical community, and the other comments have touched on a few of them