About Us

Yampa Valley Botanical, LLC was started in 2002 by J. Grassby. Grassby is a business and international attorney based in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, but one who’s also had a life-long interest in medicine and healing---of all types. One of his clients for many years was the local hospital. His interest in other traditions dates back to when he was growing up in Mexico City and, “almost by accident,” began learning about herbs from a series of curandero teachers. In 1999, Grassby met and befriended a Vietnam Veteran who claimed to have healed himself of a terminal disease by using something called “black salve.” Upon verifying what originally seemed an apocryphal story, an intrigued Grassby set out to learn more about bloodroot, the main herbal ingredient of black salve. Among other things, Grassby discovered that: Native Americans along the Eastern seaboard, especially the Cherokee and Iroquois, were using bloodroot as a medicinal for centuries before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock Following this lead, early settlers found they could readily relieve sore throats by sucking on lumps of maple sugar to which drops of bloodroot had been added. Veterinarians have been using their own formulations of bloodroot (often called “black salve”) since the mid 1800’s to treat external lesions on animals with great success Bloodroot was listed as a cancer remedy in The United States Pharmacopoeia for over 100 years---from 1820 until the advent of the AMA, the big pharmaceutical companies, and the FDA in the early to mid 1920s A large and rapidly growing body of studies at leading U.S. medical schools and other research institutions were reporting that a number of bloodroot’s constituents had exceptionally powerful therapeutic properties and mechanisms of action Bloodroot was the active ingredient in Viadent toothpaste, which accounted for its powerful anti-gingivitis properties---Viadent was subsequently purchased by Colgate and promptly buried A large German company had discovered that bloodroot, added to animal feed, was a more powerful antibiotic than antibiotics---especially significant since, effective January 1, 2006, the E.U. was set to ban the use of antibiotics in animal feed, a ban which has since gone into effect By then thoroughly intrigued, Grassby shared his still preliminary findings with a team of professionals, including two M.D.s, several Ph.D.s, one of the most highly regarded herbal formulators in the U.S., and a top regulatory attorney in Washington D.C. Together, they set out to develop a bloodroot-based formula as effective as black salve, but safer and more user-friendly Within two years they had a formula that combined bloodroot with four other herbs plus a key mineral. Together, these appeared to operate in exceptionally synergistic ways. Further work produced a liquid formula that was easy to use, highly bio-available, and seemingly very effective at working with the body’s interdependent systems to substantially enhance overall health. Yampa Valley Botanical, LLC is committed to providing superior products as well as to helping its customers develop new approaches to better health. These include being well-informed about any products they are considering purchasing and using and coming to their own solidly-based conclusions about those products. It also entails taking greater responsibility for their own over-all well-being than, by and large, currently tends to be the case in our society. Toward these ends, we provide comprehensive “libraries” of abstracts of peer-reviewed professional journal articles on each of the main ingredients of BR+ Herbal Complex®---bloodroot, lesser galangal, olive leaf, aloe vera, stevia, zinc picolinate,. Independent research on the formula as such has yet to be conducted simply because the formula has not existed until now, but all ingredients are considered safe for human consumption in concentrations far greater than occur in the formula. We also suggest and urge that our customers follow a few basic guidelines on diet, exercise, and stress management. See Recommended Usage and Lifestyle. Yampa Valley Botanical, LLC has a 10 member Board of Scientific Advisors made up of M.D.s, Ph.D. scientists, and industry experts. It also sponsors agronomic research at North Carolina State University and conducts on-going testing at several accredited labs around the country.