The wood - a natural rodent repellent - also useful

I have no idea where fair use begins and ends, and copyright traps abound -
Have to take out all the quotations?  Citing not enough?
The wood has many uses - and sassafras was used to help defeat illness -
See Thomas Hariot's Brief and True Report on sassafras in Virginia at history.acusd.edu/gen/classes/civ/hariot.

On "winauk" from the West Indies. Good smell, cures many diseases, better than other wood:"For the description, manner of using, and manifold virtues of it, I refer you to the book of Monardus, translated and entitled in English, The Joyful News from the West Indies."

It also had its fans, says Hariot,
For syphilis, but bad press brought it down.
In Shakespeare's time, a tea from the roots became a craze until somebody said the Indians used it to treat syphilis. For Shakespeare's time and sassafras, see www.walknet.net/boyd.

Sir Francis Drake in 1586 landed at Roanoke, VA, and heard tales of colonists surviving by eating sassafras soup. He brought back perhaps the first shipment
Reported it, citing many uses. See beta.blogger.com/1586.  Francis Drakelanding at Roanoke Virginia="" Plant Trivia Timeline.

In 1823, the sassafras
Was glorified by London magazine:
A delicacy is the tea, with milk and sugar,
Sold in a Salopian house on the south side of Fleet Street.
Definition, Salopian (from Shropshire; or from Shrewsbury School)
Then, a splendid essay on the oleaginous qualities of the sassafras tea. Do read it. Essay, Elia, London Magazine 1823.

From Wildman Steve, more on woods edibles.
Stalking the Wild Dandelion: A Guide to Edible Plants.
He notes the sassafras has three shaped leaves
And all the three can spring from the same twig -
An oval, mitten-shape, and three-lobe there.

The sassafras regenerates quickly.
It grows up fast after a fire, and keeps
Other plant growth in tow (takes it over?) The sassafras.
File, as in the gumbo, came to us
From cooking of the Choctaw Indians.
Sassafras in evolution, Joseph McCabe, 1910-1920.

To Romans, it was known for breaking rocks:
Myths and Myth Breakers, Sassafras, rockbreaker

Now: Why is it all banned, you FDA?

Sassafras even gets religion. Wildman Steve also says that the sassafras figures in creation stories both Flemish and Persian - east and west agree? Now I am looking that up, but have not found it yet. I hope to find the sassafras in Eden. There is a site about trees in creation stories.

The FDA decision has its detractors, on grounds that any rat will get sick from huge amounts of anything, especially something given exclusively and not part of its natural diet - see FDA Supplement Warnings Misleading (alternative medicine site). See also Ban, a NaturalCures website. Take your choice. Fine pictures at Sassafras, natural uses. You can always smoke. Just a warning on the package there.