The Department of AYUSH has initiated elaborate baseline studies, mainly toxicity and metal content analysis, in about 5000 herbal raw material samples commonly used by the Indian drug manufacturers.

The move gains significance in the backdrop of a recent report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) accusing the Indian Ayurvedic drugs having high toxic metal content.

Disclosing this exclusively to Pharmabiz in Chennai, Dr. S K Sharma, Advisor (Ayurveda), Government of India, said four centres in different zones have been identified to conduct the study, which may last for two to three years. The centres are the Dr. Srinivasamurthy Drug Research Centre under the Central Council for Research in Ayurveda and Siddha (CCRAS) at Chennai, Industrial Toxicology Research Centre (ITRC), Lucknow, Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT), Palampur and the Regional Research Laboratory, Jammu.

Each of the centers will analyze about 500 samples every year, and the Department of AYUSH will provide 100 selected plants annually. The government has also sanctioned a financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh per year to each of the centres, to undertake the studies. The studies will conform to the international standards suggested by World Health Organization (WHO) and the Indian Pharmacopoeia.

"The herbs available from place to place differ, for example the quality and contents of a particular herb grown in Chennai will be different from that of the same herb available in the Himalayas. Various factors influence the growth of herbs. Water in Kolkota is found to have more arsenic content, and that will be reflected in the herbs grown in that area. Our aim is to create authentic data and knowledge, to leverage it for the growth and popularity of our ISM sector and to dispel misconceptions of the western world " said Dr. S K Sharma.

He said, the JAMA study team did not take into account the advantages of the Indian Systems Medicine, which have many centuries of proven clinical efficacy. "Dissecting our Ayurvedic drugs in accordance to the modern medicine parameters and accusing it of toxicity, shows that those team of experts may lack knowledge on our systems," commented Dr. Sharma.