As both a STEM student and the son of a hippie herbalist, I've had to balance both sides of the debate for a long time now. There are a lot of effective herbal treatments, but there's also relatively little regulation or standardization of said herbal treatments, which can be problematic. (See homeopathy.) And there is a tendency of even the best herbalists to often buy into miraculous claims about their products. I think, frankly, that the rivalry has resulted in insufficient attention to many of the herbalists claims, which might be borne out- but, likewise, without said scientific attention, their claims aren't worth that much. I'm going to give more weight to the scientific claims, of course- as much sympathy as I have for the herbalists, it's clear who is more rigorous. Pumpernickel. I end up taking more herbal treatments than going to the doctor, though- because I'm poor and live in America, and poor people in America aren't allowed to see doctors. :D