Disinformation of Ayurvedic medicines may harm their progress and popularity - Should not it be stopped?

Abstract

Recently, Times of India has published a report title with ―Poison in Ayurvedic drugs‖ which was based on the few selected examples of Ayurvedic treatments as well as the views from some allopathic practitioners (John and Sharma, 2017). These instances claimed the higher level of mercury and lead in the Ayurvedic preparations than that of a permissible limit of these metals which are harmful to human beings. In this report, Dr Ghani Mansuri, a retired principal of Akhandanand Ayurvedic College says that an Ayurvedic drug that has any deviation from prescribed Rasashastra process contains traces of metals, minerals, or other materials as described in Rasashastra. It is noteworthy that there are very specific pharmaceutical procedures and techniques described in the Rasashastra literature which convert the toxic metals/ minerals into a suitable dosage form. The Bhasmas prepared are well tolerated both for short-term and long-term use. Moreover, it is claimed that their prolonged administration is required to achieve the rejuvenation effect (Acharya, 1969). Ayurvedic theory attributes the important therapeutic roles to metals such as mercury and lead. Ayurveda heavy metals. These are mainly Bhasmas (ashes) which are traditionally prepared by purification of the metal by multiple cooling and heating cycles, almost 100 times, and by the addition of specific herbs. In modern time, the poor quality control leads to the improper purification, contamination and adulteration with heavy metals at the stage of preparation.