:: May 2005 Volume 4/Number 3

The Truth About Heavy Metals and Ayurveda

By Felicia M. Tomasko

The safety of Ayurvedic herbal products has been a hot topic since a research study was published in the December 15 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association documenting the presence of heavy metals in a number of Ayurvedic herbal products. News media across the country, from NPR to the LA Times, have picked up the story of widespread contamination of Ayurvedic herbal products.

News media across the country, from NPR to the LA Times, have picked up the story of widespread contamination of Ayurvedic herbal products with heavy metals along with fatalities linked to use of Ayurvedic products. But, there is more to the story than relayed by the American Medical Association. It is unarguable that heavy metals were found in Ayurvedic products, and there have even been scattered cases of associated toxic reactions. But, the products tested in the study do not represent the vast majority of Ayurvedic products legally imported and sold in the U.S., manufactured by American companies or recommended by qualified Ayurvedic practitioners. Additionally, what is not emphasized is, that although 20% of products tested contained heavy metals, the vast majority, or 80% did not contain heavy metals.

It is important to note the products tested. The authors collected herbal products within 20 miles from Boston City Hall. Rather than examine legitimate products meeting legal guidelines found on the shelves of health food stores, they scoured Indian grocery stores and South Asian markets. Many could be described as “things in brown paper bags, covered in dust, brought over from India in a backpack,” Autumn Blum, a chemist and the owner of Organix South, an Ayurvedic herbal products company.

Herbal products are not subjected to the same efficacy testing required by makers of pharmaceutical drugs, and there is a popular misconception that herbal products are not monitored by the FDA. On the contrary, regulation of herbal products exists, particularly of their safety and heavy metal content. The FDA mandates that herbal products are safe, although they don’t define safety limits of heavy metals, the impetus is on herbal product manufacturers to demonstrate safety.
Even though the FDA doesn’t set limits, other organizations do. The most stringent are defined by the State of California Environmental Protection Agency, in Proposition 65. Prop 65 requires that any product that contains more than the legally defined limit of a heavy metal be labeled with a posted warning. Blum says that the products imported and manufactured by Organix South — as well as other responsible companies — meet California standards. Many products tested in the JAMA article, on the other hand, may not have been accepted in mainstream health food stores.

Supermarkets and health food stores necessitate that herbal product suppliers comply with legal regulations. Blum says Organix South herbs sourced in India are tested by a government certified, third party lab. A chemist, Blum chose labs that meet U.S. FDA standards, visited the labs herself and was impressed with their efficiency and professionalism. To clear customs, the company must produce paperwork confirming the herbs meet minimum safety standards including acceptable levels of heavy metals, microbes and pesticides. She says that manufacturers and suppliers should be willing to make their product testing documentation available to the public.

A variety of products were tested in the study. While some were exclusively herbal products, others were alchemical preparations, containing bhasmas, or specially prepared mineral ash from metals and other medicinal substances. The Ayurvedic science of rasa shastra is the complex preparation of these products. According to Ayurvedic tradition, metals such as mercury, lead or arsenic are strong effective medicines when manufactured and recommended appropriately.
These products represent some of the strongest Ayurvedic remedies available, and are not to be used lightly. Taking one off the counter or brought over from India without the appropriate follow-up by a well-trained physician or practitioner is similar to blindly self-medicating with prescription-strength pharmaceuticals. These products are much stronger than vitamins or traditional herbs like ashwagandha or triphala. Ayurvedic products sold over-the-counter at health food stores by reputable American-based companies do not contain bhasmas or alchemical preparations.

Since the authors tested both preparations containing bhasmas in the same survey as strictly herbal products, the data was skewed. Roy Upton, Director of the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia, stated that it would be more appropriate to test products without bhasmas in order to obtain accurate information about heavy metal contamination.

Before we decry the medical use of heavy metals as dangerous and unprecedented, it is important to remember that Western medicine has a history of using heavy metals therapeuctially. Mercury has been used as a preservative and fixative in vaccines and in tooth fillings, and arsenic has been a syphilis treatment. Gold is utilized in arthritis. These examples do not discount the remedies changing over time; mercury is no longer in fashion as a vaccine ingredient, due to questionable safety. But, according to Ayurvedic tradition, the preparation of mercury in rasa shastra essentially changes the substance, theoretically rendering it nontoxic.

A few isolated cases of fatal toxicity of Ayurvedic remedies, although tragic, should not distract from the widespread dangers currently inherent in Western medicine. Stanford researcher Dr. Bruce Lipton states that iatrogenic illness, or disease brought on by medical practices or procedures, including use of pharmaceutical drugs, is currently the third largest cause of disease.

This has been particularly visible in the pharmaceutical industry. Some of the most prominent examples are the controversies associated with COX-2 inhibitors, a class of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs used for pain relief in conditions such as arthritis. Merck voluntarily recalled Vioxx due to increased incidence of strokes and heart attacks, and the FDA and the European Union asked Pfizer to withdrawal Bextra.

The increase in National Institutes of Health funding for complementary medicine is welcomed by the Ayurvedic community. But, this particular study did not accurately represent either the Ayurvedic tradition or the current state of the herbal products industry. It is unfortunate that so much publicity has been given to denouncing Ayurvedic medicine, when its thousands of years of use eclipse the technology-driven, often hazardous and relatively recent Western medical tradition.

 

Article referenced was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) December 15, 2004. Volume 292, no. 23. Pages 2868-2873. By Robert B. Saper, Stefanos N. Kales, Janet Paquin, Michael J. Burns, David M. Eisenberg, Roger B. Davis and Russell S. Phillips.

 

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