To clear up some misconceptions: First, comfrey does not have proven efficacy against tooth decay, either as a preventative or to reverse decay that's already underway. Safety as a mouth rinse is probably not a major concern apart from possible local irritation, if one is careful not to swallow any. Many responsible herbalists recommend against any internal use of comfrey because of the risk of pyrrolizidine alkaloid toxicity, implicated in some cases of acute liver failure and a concern for possible carcinogenicity. Oral formulations are banned in most countries for this reason. Young children are especially susceptible to toxicity from comfrey (even a few days of taking comfrey internally can be fatal). Contrary to what's been stated, acute liver failure is not a significant consideration when it comes to use of NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs). Tylenol (acetominophen, which can be hepatotoxic) is not an NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) like aspirin or Motrin. Tylenol is not an anti-inflammatory agent - it works by a different mechanism than NSAIDS to reduce pain and fever. Used in proper dosage and not combined with other things that can damage the liver (i.e alcohol) it is a generally safe as well as effective drug. The real problem is when people take too much, which may happen when they combine or otherwise overdose on over-the-counter cold meds. The big difference between Tylenol and comfrey is that Tylenol is a proven effective drug. Comfrey may have limited value in topical pain control (when applied for limited periods on unbroken skin), but in general the claims made for it have not been backed by quality studies (something to consider when weighing a decision whether to ingest it). You cannot count on drying to significantly reduce the harmful alkaloids. Unfortunately, you also can't count on comfrey sellers to be knowledgeable and upfront about the composition of their products in our current, largely unregulated supplement market. I rarely take acetominophen, but feel a lot more confident about its safety than I do comfrey. And based on what we've seen already, if Americans began to ingest comfrey as commonly as they do acetominophen, it's extremely likely that comfrey would quickly pass acetominophen as the leading cause of acute liver failure in the U.S.

LIVED ONLY FIVE DAYS.. i got a betta fish from my brother for my birthday. It feed it morning & @ night for 2 days, although it didn't seem interested to eat. The unbeaten food remained in the bottom. It was so spirited the 1st 2days. I didn't leave him alone, I use the fish bowl on my lap & play with him, sleep with him. He use to jump when I stick my finger near surface to eat the food. He seem so happy when I'm around. He use to sit at the bottom when I'm not around & swim up when I come taping the bowl. 3rd day night I cleaned the bowl & added aged water as suggested in web sights. The same night he seem fine but I noticed a hole in his tail after few hours. I didn't handled him roughly.. I didn't even used fishnet to remove him. I let him swim into a glass with his will. Next 4 th day I noticed his was sitting still in bottom n looked little gray n his tail was rotten n shredded. From morning I didn't came to say hello to him. I came at 11:30am to see him like that. May be he missed me so he was sitting in bottom ( he sit like that when he is alone n sad) I put food to him but he wouldn't eat. Then I panicked n cried so much. I didn't leave him alone the whole day.. May be that's y he lived 2 more day. I searched every website " how to treat fine rot." every one told he need med n heater. But it's a fish bowl I can't get heater to that. I can't afford. I got an idea of my own " putting the bowl into a mild hot water container" I use to check the heat before keeping the bowl in it. And it worked. He liked it ( caution " only mild water") may be it bought him 2 more days to live. Every time I keep him in the mild hot container his skin color come to normal n when he get cold he use to turn gray. I did it every 2 hours or 1 1/2 hour ( until his fin rot get cured n grow new one). Another thing I noticed that he got fin clamp but on 5th day I saw the wings to got rot. He got infection I guess. I used to water.. May be it has too much clorine even though I aged the water. Afternoon till evening he lost his tail n down fin. I didn't changed the water but I removed all the shred from water using net. He turned gray till stomach N under his jaw. His gills looked unusual. He still didn't eat any thing. My brother told let try bore water at least anyway he looks like dieing. So I prayed to God for one more day. That night I kept him close to my bed so that he won't feel alone. On 6th day 3:45am suddenly I woke up n thank God he was near surface ( on 5 th day he stayed on top) I frequintly checked n I saw he lost his left wing n swimming side ways.. It hurt to see him like that. At 4:30 I treated him with mild water then I removed the container before it get cold. I checked every 5 mins but I only closed my eyes for 8 or more mins.. in middle I heard swift movements n water splash then went silent so I checked. @ 4:45 he was floating vertical facing bottom & tail up. I cried continusly for 2hrs.I buried him @ 5am in my front yard crying.

Wow. I noticed it was mostly young men (except for the first place one) that managed to get into all those wild situations. In a history book I read, this young guy reached for a loaded gun on the back of a moving covered wagon, and you can guess the consequence. The author also mentioned the "gene pool" removal. Mary

It's Saturday now. Last night he looked terrible at bedtime and I figured he'd need to be taken in first thing this morning. He rallied sometime during the night though, so I'm not convinced that today will be the day. At 2 am he came jogging into the bathroom after me and asked to be put in the tub to drink water from the faucet. The vet closes at noon and won't open again until Monday morning, so I'm stressing that, but don't want to rush him based on that. He is still alert and active (at the moment). We do have an emergency clinic and if he appears to be in any pain at all, we won't hesitate to take him there. Tracey, you are right that kids seem to just know. DD is a very compassionate and concerned child and I thought once he was not moving around a whole lot she would be fawning all over him- gently, but more attention than he would care for. Instead she has just left him alone, it's almost like he's become invisible to her. He has always acted to put-out by her publicly, but then privately he would always seek her out to get attention, play tea party(???), or nap under the blankets with her. He really liked her despite what he said to the contrary.