INDIA, October 1, 2006: Banaras Hindu University professor G.P. Dubey has one crucial goal with his professional work–to dispel some of the misconceptions surrounding Ayurvedic medicine and spread the positive aspects of this ancient practice. To assist with his quest, he recently visited the U. S. to enlist the help of several top universities and researchers. “My main objective is to promote the Indian system of medicine and particularly plant-based drugs,” said Dubey, the principal investigator at Banaras Hindu University’s Center of Psychosomatic and Biofeedback Medicine. Dubey believes that Indian traditional medicine, such as Ayurveda, has great potential across the globe as alternative medicine. “India will have a great opportunity of exporting the natural products, particularly Ayurvedic products,” he said. However, he added, that with the increasing cost of health care and burden on governments around the world, it is not just about creating a greater market opportunity for Indian Ayurvedic medicine—it is about bringing a time-tested alternative medicine option to people who can use it. “There is a big scope of promoting this systems of medicine in Western countries because they are cheap, effective and safe,” Dubey said.
The December 2004 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association published an article, “Heavy Metal Content of Ayurvedic Herbal Medicine Products,” that found that 14 out of 70 Ayurvedic products tested in the Boston area contained heavy metal–lead, mercury and arsenic–above acceptable levels. This article caused a great stir regarding Ayruvedic medicine products and resulted in reaction in several countries. Dubey points to the study as a popular source cited regarding concerns about Ayurvedic medicine. As such, Dubey set out to recreate the study and take a closer look at what it found. According to Dubey, he has no issue with the findings of the study–he said they are correct–the issue surrounds the implications that the findings suggest. In the study, the presence of metals such as lead, mercury and arsenic is associated with heavy metal toxicity in the drugs. However, Dubey said that the presence of such metals does not automatically equate to heavy metal toxicity because in the process of preparing Ayurvedic medicine these metals are combined with minerals and plants and detoxified–so they are present, but not harmful. One of Dubey’s main goals in coming here was to meet with the authors of the study and try and cultivate a collaboration to further examine this issue.