Quality and Safety of Classical Rasaoushadhies: Bane for Ayurvedic Therapeutics Yogaata api visham teekhshanam uttamam bheshajam bhaveta Bheshajam cha api duryuktam teekshanam sampadyate visham Charak Sutrasthana Prathamoadhyaya 126th Shloka We all have heard this popular shloka which says that even an acute poison can become an excellent drug if it is properly administered. On the other hand, even a drug, if not properly administered, becomes an acute poison. There are different types of Lauha like Manda Lauha, Teekhshna Lauha, Kaanta Lauha and there are even further subtypes. And only the specific one is used for medicines. Same is applicable for other dhatus that they also have various types and even subtypes stated in Shastras and a specific one is said by our Acharyas to be used for medicine production. In How many Ayurvedic Companies do we have experts who can identify these specific types and subtypes of dhatus? They are using the ones, which are available at lower rates! How many pharmacies are making Rasaoushadhies exactly in the way stated in Shastras? The popularity of traditional remedies has greatly increased in westernized countries over recent years. And we are proud of it. Although there have recently been an increasing number of case reports being published of heavy metal poisoning after the use of traditional remedies, especially, Indian Ayurvedic remedies. Agnitundi Vati, Ekangaveer rasa, Aarogyavardhini Vati are some of Indian manufactured Rasa-shastra medicines distributed with extremely elevated lead and mercury concentrations. We in Rasa-shastra believe that if Bhasmas are properly prepared according to ancient protocols, the metals undergo Shodhana, rendering them non-toxic and ready for therapeutic use. But Case reports in the literature, however, have documented significant toxicity with the use of some of these products. A study by Robert Saper, Anusha Sehgal and others, founded that 21% of Ayurvedic medicines manufactured and distributed by Indian companies contain metals like, lead, mercury and arsenic & one more report said that 20% of Indian manufactured Ayurvedic medicines purchased in South Asian ethnic markets contained these metals. And these are the data being published in the internationally most reputed journals. Bahuta tatra yogyatvam anek vidha kalpana Sampaccheti chatushkoayam dravyanam guna uchyate Charak Sutrastana Navamoadhyaya 7th Shloka
In this popular shloka, it has been clearly said that “Bahuta” i.e. Abundance is one of the important quality of any drug. So, do we have Rasaoushadhies available in abundance? Good quality Rasaoushadhies are not easily available and hence, the inferior quality is consumed by the public. Sword is for defense, but only for the wise ones. There is a lot of appreciation of Rasaoushadies and I agree with it as well. But how many Quality medicines are available? I want to ask my worthy counterparts who consider Rasa-Shastra to be a Boon for Ayurveda How do you guarantee that the quality of Rasaoushadhies required to be made through so sophisticated procedures can be controlled at such a large scale? Isn’t it that our name is spoiled on foreign lands for the heavy metal toxicity detected in these medicines because of improper production on large scale? The use of heavy metal based Ayurvedic preparations may lead to serious heavy metal toxicity. As mercury and lead are the most widely used heavy metals for drug preparations, the toxicity due to these metals may become very common. Heavy metal toxicity is the toxic effect of the heavy metals in certain forms and doses on our biological processes. These toxic metals can interfere with our metabolic processes to cause diseases from abdominal pain, anemia and in severe cases seizures, coma and death. Mercury poisoning can result in several diseases, including acrodynia or pink disease with very high sensitivity of palms and soles leading to lot of itching, Hunter-Russell Syndrome in which vision and speech gets impaired and Minamata disease. Symptoms typically include sensory impairment, disturbed sensations and lack of coordination. This type and degree of symptoms exhibited depends upon the individual toxin, the dose, the method and duration of exposure. Although this medical pathy is in use since thousands of years But then the medicines were prepared on Individual basis and especially our Rasaoushadhies that need tremendous care in quality while manufacturing were created by our Vaidyas for their few patients with utmost care, but when the population has become so huge, How are we going to produce them at such a large scale by following the ancient protocols as stated in Shastras? And when things go wrong, it not only spoils the name of that Mass-producing firm and those Rasaoushadhies, But Ayurveda in general. And then the Quality and Safety of Classical Rasaoushadhies turns out to be a Bane for Ayurvedic Therapeutics. The words I used might have hurt some of us, and same they did to me when I listened to them for the first time from foreign authorities. But even worse language is being used by those people around the world who are anti-Rasa Shastra and according to me it’s of prime importance that we understand the way of thinking of these people, to combat them for our science of Rasa-shastra to get around the world and to make Ayurveda shine, as it should. By, Sanchit Misra Student, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi