megbaltes's Journal

The fungi I chose to research is the turkey tail mushroom which I found on a trail in Mont Royal. This mushroom has been used for years in Chinese medical practices but in 2012, turkey tail mushrooms started to be used to help cancer patients in western medicine. Turkey tail extract is being used alongside chemotherapy to boost the immune system of cancer patients. The problem with this treatment is that wild turkey tail may be contaminated by toxins or minerals in the soil it grows in. This makes it imperative that the safety of each turkey tail mushroom is tested before being used in medicine.