Just hear a bit of a report on ATC and hope to see the full ones later:
 
Comfrey has apparently been indicated as a contributor to the development
of some malignancies and to liver damage (type unspecified in the report
I heard).
 
Anesthesiologists have now linked several herbs to complications not only
of surgery but of using anesthesia.  I did not manage to write down the
entire list but hose which I did were: garlic, ginko, echinacea (messes
with the heart rate when in conjunction with some anesthesias), valerian
(sounded like it can cause an individual to have trouble coming out from
anesthesia), and kava.  It is advised that the herbs they listed not be
given or taken a week before or after surgery.
 
Of course, any medicine strong enough to help is also strong enough to
harm, so DO read warning labels and DO use resources such as _PDR for
Herbal Medicines_, _Tyler's Honest Herbal_, and _Tyler's Herbs of Choice_
which give the good, and the bad: uses, possible uses, counter-indications,
medication interferences, etc.  Use the same level of caution for ANY
medications!
 
Steve and I are fortunate to have never lost a ferret during surgery or
post-surgical times (during 19 years with ferrets), plus we almost always
have had ferrets which attained fine life spans and survived illness for
long periods, and part of that is having fine vets, part is careful care,
part is luck, but another part is using caution and respecting any form
of medication used, whether standard or alternative.
[Posted in FML issue 3475]