Ayurvedic Bhasmas are safe: Says AYUSH research

Answer to JAMA's false claim

American Medical Journal had reported high levels of lead, mercury and arsenic in the drugs and the Health Ministry clarified that detoxification was done and no side effects were reported

The government has validated the safety of eight ‘bhasmas’ -- used in several Ayurvedic drugs -- through rigorous animal trials. These drugs have often been criticised in the Western countries for heavy metal content in the form of ‘bhasma.’

“Trials have found that these bhasmas are safe and the results will be published shortly,” reliable sources in the Department of Ayush (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) told The Hindu.

Concern

There was concern against the use of Ayurvedic medicines -- which is growing in popularity in the West -- when in 2008 a research published in the Journal of American Medical Association reported detection of ‘extremely high’ quantities of lead, mercury and arsenic in such drugs.

Then the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had said that “these metals are used after proper detoxification process and no significant adverse drug reactions have been reported regarding their use in India.”

Awareness project

Subsequently, the Department of Ayush had launched a project called Golden Triangle to scientifically validate Ayurvedic drugs.

The Indian Council of Medical Research and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research are the two other partners in the project which have now come out with the scientific validation of the eight bhasmas.

In fact, the government has started in the United States a Centre for Research in Indian Systems of Medicine for promoting Indian systems of medicines there.

Symposium

The Centre has already held a symposium on ‘Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani Drugs: Development and Marketing’ here to emphasise the need for quality assurance and standardisation of these drugs.

Another major initiative taken up by the government is the setting up of industrial clusters for Ayurvedic drugs where common testing facilities will be set up to manufacture the products more scientifically. The government plans to set up 10 such clusters across the country.

Ensuring quality

Each cluster has been given an initial fund of Rs.10 crore and the clusters have made a buy-back arrangement with the cultivators of medicinal plants to ensure quality of the products.

The government has tied up with the Quality Council of India (QCI) to start a voluntary certification process. The QCI has identified 29 drug testing centres that can certify the manufacturing units.

Source: The Hindu

Ayurvedic bhasma oldest form of nanotechnology: BARC prof

TNN 14 December 2009, 11:11pm IST

SURAT: The bhasmas' used in Ayurveda for treatment of various diseases for the past several centuries is the oldest form of nanotechnology, said head of solid state chemistry section at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai, Prof AK Tyagi.

Tyagi was in the city to take part in a one-day seminar on Nanotechnology and its application' at department of chemistry in Veer Narmad South Gujarat University (VNSGU).

"We are preparing to use it again for various purposes," Tyagi said. The seminar was organized with funds given to the department of chemistry by University Grants Commission (UGC) under special assistance programme. The department is also awarded five research scholarships.

Apart from Tyagi, Dr PA Hassan, Dr V Sudarshan and Dr Dimple Dutta, all from BARC, participated in the seminar and delivered lectures.

In his lecture Tyagi said the nano particles are 1 crore times smaller than a hair and due to its small size, the basic characteristics also get changed. Due to change in electrical, thermal, magnetic, optical, chemical and biological characteristics, the particles can be used for various products. Use of nanotechnology has already been started in food technology and medical technology. Research is on across the globe for use of technology in robotics and at advance level of health facilities. Gradually, the technology will become part of routine life of human beings, he added.

VNSGU vice-chancellor BA Prajapati, head of chemistry department P Bahadur and faculty member KC Patel were also present at the event.

Source: Times of India

Ayurvedic Metallic Preparations are Safe...!

Dept of Ayush certifies safety of 8 bhasmas under Golden Triangle Project
Friday, October 30, 2009 08:00 IST
Nandita Vijay, Bangalore

The department of Ayush has certified 8 bhasmas to be safe for use and the details will be will be released in December. This validation of 8 bhasmas is the maiden project under the Golden Triangle project of the Central government. The project, set up with the support of the department of Ayush Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), is expected to scientifically validate Ayurveda products.

The standardization, safety and toxicity studies of metallic bhasmas and mineral-based formulations including Kupipakwa Rasayanas have been a major issue for a while for the drug manufacturers, according to JSD Pani, president, Karnataka Indian Medicine Manufacturers Association. The issue of the presence of minerals and heavy metals has bogged down international marketing operations. Therefore the effort by the Ayush department will now help the industry, he added.

The Planning Commission had constituted a Working Group on Access to Health Systems in Ayush which in-turn formed five Sub-Group and one of them focused only on the standardization and Quality Control of Ayush drugs.

The Ayush department was keen to lay down pharmacopoeial standards for single and compound formulations besides carry out scientific validation of herbo-metallic compounds and address the standardization and quality control of herbal drugs. There is also a proposal to set up a Pharmacopoeial Commission for Indian Medicine under the 11th Plan which will be located in the newly constructed building of the Pharmacopoeial Laboratory of Indian Medicine, Ghaziabad. The key objective is to create an independent scientific body which will undertake laying down of pharmacopoeial standards and its revision.

The Department is likely to enforce mandatory testing of heavy metals not only for export of Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani medicines but also for sale in domestic market. Since over 80 per cent of the Ayush manufacturing units are in the small and medium scale sector, the department identified labs to test the drugs for these companies. This is because equipments like Atomic Absorption Spectrometer to test heavy metals and TLC/HPTLC/GLC to test crude drugs are expensive to be installed by many companies to test the raw materials and finished products.

Pani said that these metals have undergone extensive toxicity studies. There had been no reports of major adverse drug reaction. Standardization and quality control of Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani drugs is a problem area as botanicals do not lend themselves to as precise a quality control as synthetic molecules manufactured under controlled laboratory conditions. This requires state-of-the-art research for developing chemical/biological markers/chromatogram fingerprints/standardized operating procedures and phyto-chemical characterization of bhasmas.

Now with the department of Ayush being ready with the safety data of the 8 bhasmas, this would provide a major fillip for growth for the Traditional System of Medicine industry, stated Dr GG Gangadharan, joint director (Traditional System of Medicine), Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT).

Source: PharmaBiz