In a rather belated response to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)'s recent adverse findings on Indian and US Ayurveda drugs, the Ayurvedic Drug Manufacturers Association (ADMA) has termed the findings as biased, misleading and a further attempt to tarnish the image of the science of Ayurveda which is now gaining wide popularity and acceptance the world over.

In its study JAMA had found close to 21 per cent of ayurvedic medicines manufactured and distributed by US and Indian companies through Internet contain heavy metal contamination such as lead, mercury or arsenic beyond the permissible limit. The study was published on August 27.

Calling the JAMA findings as outdated and ill-informed on the current status of exports of Ayurvedic Siddha Unani (ASU) formulations from India, ADMA said that a serious flaw in the above study is that the authors of the study have failed to take cognizance of Indian government order dated 14th October, 2005. The order stipulates mandatory testing for heavy metal contamination in purely herbal formulations for export made effective from January 1, 2006 onwards. Accordingly and since the procurement of ASU products through internet sources featured in the said article was completed in August - October 2005 the entire study in effect represents those Ayurvedic products which have not been subjected to this mandatory testing at pre-shipment level of exports from India.

What is even more disturbing is that the authors have very conveniently stated that one of the limitations of the study could be in the classification of Rasashastra status to the products - apparently this is the sole contribution from the qualified Ayurvedic scientist. This raises serious doubt on the real motive and purpose behind including the Ayurvedic scientist in the entire study in the first place and it would be irresponsible to extrapolate Ayurveda on a modern science platform and to validate its facets, piecemeal, on an ill-suited paradigm without a core understanding. It demonstrates cultural insensitivity and modern arrogance, ADMA regretted.

Another disturbing fact of the study is the questionable motive behind dragging names of Associations such as AHPA and ADMA in a scientific journal, something which is quite unheard of, irrelevant to context and stated objective, in an otherwise 'Scientific Study', it said.

It is a known fact that Ayurveda uses many metals in therapeutics. However what is commonly not known is that it also has well laid down Shodhan (purification or detoxification) processes to take care of putative toxicity of such heavy metals. The concerned ayurvedic texts or Granthas are replete with detailed information of the untoward effects and toxicity if such metals are used in the unpurified or "Ashuddha" form. As a matter of fact, these potent category of medicines come under the category of Schedule E1 of the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940 which stipulates that it is mandatory to label them as "To be used under medical supervision" as per Indian laws.

Also it should be realized that detectable presence of the said elements as stated in the JAMA study does not indicate presence of toxicity. These elements are also very much present in many of our daily foods and diets and as shown in this study, in ayurvedic products. Spices such as ginger, nutmeg, clove, turmeric etc are an essential and integral part of daily food items consumed by mankind from a global perspective. Has the ingestion of these herbs on a daily basis resulted in the so called "toxicity" purported by the learned authors of the article and assumedly leading to mass deaths? These are questions which need to be pondered, ADMA said.