As my home medicine cabinet was getting low on Bayers', the German-made aspirin, I decided to scour the Chinese market for it as it seemed patently silly to bring back such a common analgesic all the way from overseas.

Aspirin is, among other things, an anti-inflammatory medication and pain reliever that is used to effectively deal with headaches, toothaches, minor aches and pains, and to reduce fever. It also temporarily relieves the minor aches and pains of arthritis, muscle aches, colds, flu, including menstrual discomfort. However, fortunately, I have not suffered from the latter lately.

Furthermore, a small daily dose of aspirin may be used to ensure sufficient blood flow to the brain and prevent stroke as aspirin has proven blood-thinning properties. Aspirin may also be taken to decrease recurrence of a heart attack or other heart problems as it inhibits the cyclo-oxygenase pathway in the platelet, reducing the production of thromboxane A2, a powerful platelet stimulant and vasoconstrictor.

Today, no fewer than 80 million aspirin tablets are consumed by Americans DAILY.

The history of aspirin goes back to the days of Hippocrates, that eminent Greek physician of 400 BC who prescribed the bark and leaves of the willow tree to relieve pain and fever. The willow tree bark and leaves are rich in salicin, a compound similar to acetylsalicylic acid, the chemical name for aspirin.

In 1832 Felix Hoffmann, a chemist at Bayer in Germany, produced a stable form of acetylsalicylic acid that relieved pains from his father's rheumatism. And in 1899 Bayer distributed aspirin powder to physicians to give to their patients. Aspirin became the number one drug worldwide.

In 1915, aspirin became available without a prescription and was by then manufactured in tablet form. In 1948, Dr Lawrence Craven, a Californian general practitioner noticed that 400 men to whom he had prescribed aspirin had not had any heart attacks. He recommended to his patients and colleagues that "an aspirin a day" could significantly reduce the risk of heart attacks.

In the 1970s, scientists discovered that Aspirin works by inhibiting the production of chemicals called prostaglandins. And in 1988 the FDA approved aspirin for reducing the risk of recurrent myocardial infarction or heart attack and preventing "mini strokes" in men.

As with most medications, there are some things to be considered. The main ingredient being acetylsalicylic acid, aspirin tablets must never be swallowed whole, especially not on an empty stomach as the acid in the concentrated tablet may burn holes in the stomach lining and cause bleeding and/or stomach ulcers.

I was therefore horrified to have Chinese-made aspirin offered to me in capsule form and marked: "Delayed action aspirin".

Delayed action indeed - that's a time bomb in my vernacular, for want of a better description. The capsule being swallowed whole and settling on an empty stomach, the gelatinous capsule gradually dissolving, leaving a heap of aspirin powder on the stomach wall, ready to do its acid burning damage.

It is this kind of not only mindless, but potentially dangerous if not criminal, marketing that I feel should be curtailed in China by the Chinese Food and Drugs Administration.

While on the subject of Chinese medicines: A few weeks ago, I was dismayed to hear the highest health official in China making a politically correct statement on CCTV-9 that Chinese medicines used against SARS have no negative side effects.

How very true and how very deceptive. Why did the guy not just say that those Chinese herbs or whatever they contain are absolutely useless against SARS. As with the common flu or cold, SARS is a virus disease and there is, I am told, no medication to cure viral diseases. To combat a virus, the bodies' immune system has to manufacture the correct antibody like a key for a lock.

Usually, the body manages to do this in good time. For some viruses, like the forever mutating influenza virus, the body can do this in about five days. No matter what medication one takes or not takes, in the average healthy individual, that antibody will start doing its work Some patients give the the credit for a cure to herbs and potions but the doctor and his herbs had nothing to do with it. It was solely the body's immune defence mechanism that did the job.

But tell that the average Chinese. He would rather part with anything up to 1,000 yuan and the warm feeling that he has cared for his body. Medical cures cannot possibly be effective for him if it does not hurt, financially.

Starcomment@yahoo.com