SANGUINARIA

Preparations. - 1. Specific Medicine Sanguinaria. Dose, 1 to 10 drops, well diluted.

Action and Therapy. - After pneumonia, when debility persists and cough and viscid secretion continue and it is difficult to expectorate, specific medicine sanguinaria, with or without lycopus, wild cherry, or eucalyptus, in syrup, is one of the most efficient of medicines. The dose should be regulated so that the patient receives about one or two drops of the sanguinaria every two to four hours. It similarly benefits phthisical cough with difficult expectoration, but should be withheld if it provokes gastric irritation or nausea. It has no effect whatever upon the tubercular state.

The Eclectic Materia Medica, Pharmacology and Therapeutics by Harvey Wickes Felter, M.D. (1922)

Bloodroot extracts are toxic to animal cells

Sanguinarine kills animal cells by blocking the action of Na+/K+-ATPase transmembrane proteins. As a result, applying bloodroot to the skin may destroy tissue and lead to the formation of a large scab, called an eschar. Bloodroot and its extracts are thus considered escharotic.

In spite of supposed curative properties and historical use by Native Americans as an emetic, internal use is inadvisable. Although applying escharotic agents, including bloodroot, to the skin is sometimes suggested as a home treatment for skin cancer, these attempts can be severely disfiguring. Salves derived from bloodroot cannot be relied on to remove an entire malignant tumor. Microscopic tumor deposits may remain after visible tumor tissue is burned away, and case reports have shown that in such instances tumor has recurred and/or metastasized.

In 2005, "folk healer" Dan Raber (of Georgia, United States) was arrested and charged with causing severe bodily harm and practicing medicine without a license for dispensing bloodroot paste to nine women with various ailments including breast cancer, causing severe disfiguring destruction of their skin and underlying tissue (as well as failing to successfully excise their tumors). Lois March, M.D. of Cordele, Georgia, was also charged as an accomplice and had her medical license permanently revoked for her role in assisting Raber's unlicensed treatment by prescribing massive amounts of opiate pain medication to his customers in order to allow them to continue their bloodroot treatment despite the severe burning pain and disfigurement it caused.