NEW DELHI, INDIA, October 15, 2011 (indiatimes.com): The Drug Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) has decided to regulate the sale and quality of sindoor (vermilion), the sacred symbol of married Hindu women which is also used in Hindu shrines. Sindoor is being brought under Schedule-S of the Drugs and Cosmetics rules, making it a “cosmetic” and therefore subject to safety standards.
Most of the sindoor sold at shrines and retail outlets is toxic and ecologically unfriendly, adulterated with chemical dyes, synthetic materials and lead salts, including toxic low-grade commercial red lead oxide, prompting warnings from the US, European and Canadian regulatory agencies. The DTAB says sindoor so adulterated can cause rashes, pigmentation and even skin cancer.
“Sindoor manufacturers will have to adhere to safety standards, and need to apply for license for its production and sale,” a ministry official said. “All types of sindoor used for commercial purposes or in shrines will be regulated.”
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has prescribed that lead oxide should not be used in sindoor.
A recent study at the Children’s Hospital in Boston and the Harvard School of Public Health found that about 65% of ceremonial powders such as vermilion commonly used by women contained high levels of lead, a dangerous neurotoxin.