chico chupacabra wrote:
> wrote:
>
> <...>
>
>
> > Surely off topic here but that's OK.
> >
> > Part of the problem is simply education. Some people don't even know
> > of the medicinal properties of garlic,
>
> Can you cite any double blind studies, preferably written and available
> in English, which demonstrate "medicinal properties" of garlic?
>

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Abstract

might be a good place to start.

Some quotes to inspire your googling:

GARLIC EXTRACT (from 66 mg fresh garlic) were found to be effective
antibiotic agents against many bacteria, including Staphylococcus
aureus, Escherichia coli, salmonella enteritidis, Klebsiella
pneumoniae, and mycobacteria.45,46,47 These studies compared the
antimicrobial effects of garlic with those of commonly used
antibiotics, including penicillin, streptomycin, chloramphenicol,
erythromycin, and tetracyclines. These studies demonstrated garlic's
efficacy in inhibiting the growth of some bacteria that had become
resistant to one or more of the antibiotics.

Garlic possesses important immune-enhancing and anticancer properties.
Human studies show that garlic inhibits the formation of nitrosamines
which are powerful cancer-causing compounds formed during digestion.48

Garlic has demonstrated significant antifungal activity against a wide
range of fungi. Garlic is especially active against C. albicans, being
more potent than Nystatin and six other reputed antifungal agents.49

Garlic's antiviral effects have been well studied. In vitro, fresh
garlic killed herpes simplex types 1 and 2, para-influenza virus type
3, vesicular stomatitis virus, and human rhinovirus type 2. Fresh
garlic extract was virucidal against all viruses tested but the
virucidal activity of commercial products depended how they were
prepared. Those products producing the highest level of allicin and
other thio-sulfinates, such as found in Factor Twelve: Opti-cillin, had
the best virucidal activity.50

(from http://www.doctorsexercise.com/produ...n/factor12.htm)

> > Another problem is this vestige of the monarchy system
> > that we still have hanging around, known as "intellectual property
> > law".
>
> What's wrong with copyrights, patents, and other forms of protecting
> one's work?
>

What's wrong is that free market forces are effectively eliminated.
I'm not against all kinds of communism/socialism, but I generally argue
in favor of free markets.