GALILEO'S LAWYER:
Courtroom Battles in Alternative Health, Complementary Medicine and Experimental Treatments

"Galileo's Lawyer tells the story of medical mavericks, that is to say health care practitioners who use unconventional, alternative, unapproved, experimental or integrative medical modalities on conditions like cancer, heart disease, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's disease and other conditions. Many of these practitioners use dietary or nutritional supplements, herbal remedies or homeopathic products to treat disease or for disease prevention. Many of the treatments used by medical mavericks are not approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). The government, insurance companies and the medical establishment sometimes try to stop these practitioners from treating patients through the use of medical board proceedings, criminal actions and civil lawsuits. This book tells the story of the fight between alternative or complementary health practitioners, their patients and the government." - Richard Jaffe

My name is Mark Hershiser. My wife Marianne and I own and operate Native Essence Herb Co. We started this company in 1993 and we have run it and enjoyed doing so ever since. I had stomach problems from the time I was about 11 years old until I was 30 when I started using the essiac herbs which I believe helped. My own personal experience is what motivated me to start this company. We started selling the essiac herbs, we then added the Hoxsey formula and have since added dozens of formulas and single herbal extracts to our product line. We manufacture most of these tinctures ourselves and love doing so.

We were also honored to have been chosen by the Cherokee Medicine Society to learn about and manufacture Native American Healer and Medicine Man, Chief Two Trees herbal formulas after he passed away in 1995. We manufactured these formulas for about 5 years under the guidance of his daughter Darlene Two Trees. This was an honor and we learned a great deal about Native American Healing and tradition.

We have always been very proud of our business ethics and our products and we know that most of our customers will agree - Click here to read some of our customer feedback. In our 15 years in business we have never "misled or deceived" anyone and we have never engaged in "deceptive acts or practices" as the FTC accuses us of. Frankly, we are insulted by this. We are a good, honest family that run a good, honest business that we love and are passionate about. My wife and I will be celebrating 30 years together this year and we have a beautiful 19 year old daughter that just finished her first year of college. We really are the average American family running a small family business. This company has been our foundation for 15 years, in that time we have heard so many good things from so many good people, we have had so many happy, repeat customers that have reported so many beneficial results from the use of these herbs, it is just not clear what "injuries" this threatened lawsuit is to "redress." We are not part of the problem, we are part of the solution.

Unfortunately we cannot afford this kind of lawsuit as we have never been financially agressive. Money has not been our main motivation. We have been very happy with our modest lifestyle outside Taos, New Mexico and staying small has allowed us to keep a real hands on approach, assuring quality in every aspect of our business and products. It has enabled us to stay close and personal with many of our customers as well as staying close as a family, working together, doing what we enjoy. So being a small company has been a good thing for us. Unfortunately, it does not afford a landmark case such as the one we have filed. Therefore, we are kindly asking for donations to a legal defense fund set up on our behalf (see Defense Fund) so that we can properly defend ourselves against what we perceive as an injustice against our small business and family, as well as freedom of speech, information and health freedom issues that affect all of us.

back to the top