Make mercury available for ayurvedic meds, prof urges PM
Varanasi: A professor of Rasa Shastra and Bhaishajya Kalpana (Ayurvedic Pharmaceutics) from the Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, and chairman of the Scientific Advisory Group-Drug Development, Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), ministry of AYUSH, Anand K Chaudhary, has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure the availability of mercury in India for its medicinal application in the manufacturing of specific dosage forms of Ayurvedic medicines.
In his letter, he requested the PM to preserve and promote the Indian Knowledge System by ensuring the availability of mercury for its medicinal uses in ayurveda which amounts to just 40 tons of the 700 tons of mercury being used inchemical fertilisers, pipelines, cosmetics, etc in India. Prof said that the Indian acharyas of Rasa Shastra and ayurveda invented the medicinal form of mercury known as 'Rasoshadhi'in the 11th century.
Whereas westerners also tried to invent medicinal uses of mercury since 2AD, but they failed utterly after 1500 years and gave up. Almost all leading Ayurvedic physicians from across the country prescribe these herbo-mineral formulations, along with mercurial preparations, to treat acute and chronic diseases for the last 1500 years and judicious applications of these medicines rarely caused any adverse effects on the patients.
Prof Chaudhary said India is a signatory of Minamata Convention; therefore, it has legal obligations to reduce/check the applications of mercury in different industries. It should be an ethical obligation on the country to preserve and promote the Indian Knowledge System by ensuring the availability of mercury for its medicinal uses in ayurveda.
"The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is negotiating with UNDP for the Mercury Free India Campaign and many more, which we all support, that any toxic form of mercury should not be in the country," he said. adding, "But the knowledge and pharmaceutical procedures like Shodhan, Maran, Sanskaar are the Intellectual Property Rights of our acharyas, which are being practised by us Indians in the contemporary age and making this toxic mercury into the form of medicinal mercury.
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