Free Sassafras!

I was kidding when I said that you had probably heard the miraculous healing powers of brussel sprouts being extolled on the streets, but there was a time when Sassafras was more popular than snake oil. Being one of the first plants to travel back to Europe from the New World it was quickly used as an ingredient in toiletries such as perfumes and soaps, medicines, beer and tea.

It no longer enjoys such popularity. In 1960 it was banned by the FDA. Sassafras oil contains a compound known as Safrole that in one lab rat study was found to cause liver cancer. Though humans would have to consume an impossible amount of sassafras to reach the levels of safrole injected into the lab rats, sadly it can no longer be used as a food additive. This means your root beer is now flavored with..........wintergreen?! I am appalled. There must be some other reason for the ban, after all tobacco's legal (though they must label it as a know carcinogen and you can sell sassafras labeled as such too).

There is controversy about the ban. Some say the FDA couldn't regulate the trade of sassafras and therefore placed the ban. Others cite the fact that safrole is used in the production of MDMA a hallucinogenic substance found in ecstasy and other such products. Regardless it is clearly a misunderstanding and I encourage you all to take to the streets with signs that read "Free Sassafras", make t-shirts and give them away to your friends, write your senator, and do everything in your power to mobilize the masses around this dire issue (I'm serious about the t-shirts).

As far as health benefits go they are numerous, but often discredited because very little scientific studies have proven much of anything positive after the ban. But folklore and legend have passed down the secrets that sassafras can be used externally for soothing skin conditions like psoriasis, eczema and poison oak and internally as a diuretic (makes you pee so flushes your system), and as a diaphoretic (makes you sweat so used for fevers). It can be useful in an array of other conditions ranging from head lice to arthritis. Pregnant or lactating women should avoid consuming sassafras because the perpetrator, safrole, leaks into the mammary glands.

Most sassafras sold today does not contain safrole, so if your root beer purportedly contains sassafras it is benign. Some would argue that this denigrates the flavor and health benefits--but what else can we do? I'm going to take a trip to my local herb store and see if the sassafras they sell contains safrole. Look forward to another post on sassafras tea and in the future--how to brew your own root beer!!

*the first photograph was taken at Il Vicino in Albuquerque, specializing in wood fired pizzas they also have their own brew of root beer on tap.

*the second photo was stolen from thequackdoctor.wordpress.com (hope they don't mind).