We’ve seen a lot of pretty bad “home remedies” for asthma. We’ve written about some of the data showing herbal cures for asthma don’t really have any evidence behind them [See RAD Foundation FAQ: There is no herbal cure for asthma]
For the past 166 years, a family in India has been offering an unusual remedy that might leave their customers wishing for a strong stomach… because unlike Mary Poppins’ solution, a spoonful of sugar won’t help a small live fish and a special herb paste go down.
You read that right.
A small live fish…and herb paste (along with a special, strict diet for 45 days after the fish is consumed). The family claims the two-inch fish “[clears] the throat on their way down,” and plans to give the amphibious asthma remedy out for free next week on June 8 and 9 (the date is “determined by astrologers and the onset of the monsoon”) at a festival in Hyderabad. According to the Associated Free Press , in 2010 over 200,000 people flocked to the festival looking for the fish.
But now protesters for a children’s rights group are petitioning India’s Human Rights Commission to stop the family from giving the fish to children under 14. Calling the family’s cure “’unscientific’ and a violation of human rights,” the group is also claiming dropping fish into the throats of people is completely unsanitary as “the person gives it to…people without washing their hands.”
Sounds a little fishy to me.
Here at AllergyAsthmaNow, we want to help you find the best possible ways to keep you asthma under control so you can live your life. This is not one of those ways.
Instead – here are 6 things you CAN do right now to help control your asthma. And these come from some of the top medical professionals in the U.S.:
June 3, 2011
Asthma, Featured, News, News & Features