Outlook
- Vinod Gandhi was brought to a Mumbai hospital from Gujarat. He had been in coma for three weeks. His case baffled doctors because his blood chemistry appeared perfectly normal.
Till Dr Rohini Chowgule, who runs the Indian Institute of Environmental Medicine (IIEM), saw his symptoms and suggested testing him for lead poisoning. IIEM is the only organisation in India that specialises in studying metal poisoning. Shah's results showed his lead levels at over 80 ppm (part per million), the level at which coma sets in. Gandhi had been consuming five different, unbranded ayurvedic medicines. - Five members of a family from Gujarat, suffering from psoriasis, a hereditary disease of the skin, had been taking 'treatment' from a roadside vaid. Two landed in hospital when they started vomiting blood. Analysis revealed that each was consuming a daily dose of 200 microgrammes of arsenic. This is a lethal dose; typically, half a sample of people treated with this dose will die in only a few days.
- Another vaid treating six-year-old Dinesh Nathan to build his appetite and weight had upped the dose when initial treatment hadn't helped—in fact the boy appeared anaemic. When he complained of extreme abdominal pain and loss of appetite, his blood was analysed, to show 46.5 microgrammes of lead per decilitre (100 ml). A normal level is below 10. This was the result of taking 372 mcg a day of regular dose for two years. Lead uses the bones as a sink, so anaemia often implies lead toxicity, as lead affects blood production in the bone marrow.
- Brijesh Chandra was hospitalised after complaining of acute stomach pain, nausea and vomiting for four weeks. Analysis of his ayurvedic infertility treatment showed 37 mcg/dl of arsenic. The body can handle up to 5 mcg/dl. His lead level was 28 mcg/dl.
- Bharati R. also landed in hospital with extreme anaemia and an arsenic level of 11.9 mcg/dl. Arsenic attacks the stomach lining and can cause acute stomach pain and related symptoms.
- The physicians who codified those traditional texts knew that certain metals were poisonous. The ones they did recommend were to be ideally used in restricted quantities, for very specific treatment. They also specified elaborate processes to detoxify the metal. Like washing, treating with herbs, milk, cow urine, lime juice and extended heat treatment, among other things. Even a cursory knowledge of high school chemistry should be enough to question the effectiveness of some of these processes.
- Even if these techniques did somehow make, say, mercury and its compounds non-poisonous, very few manufacturers stick to any sort of standards. Like other indigenous trades, ayurveda too is subject to relatively loose government controls in practice.
