A father-son homoeopath duo from Kolkata impressed Western scientists with their paper on homoeopathic medicines for health problems during lunar missions by the US.

Prasanta and Pratip Banerji were the only medical practitioners from India invited to present their paper at a symposium on lunar settlements organised by Rutgers University, New Jersey, earlier this week.

Their paper was on "Possible Use of Ultra-diluted Medicines for Health Problems during Lunar Missions".

"The presentation got tremendous response," Prasanta Banerji told IANS from New Jersey.

The other speakers at the seminar were Harrison H. Schmitt, a lunar model pilot on Apollo 17, and astronomer David H. Levy.

The Rutgers Symposium on Lunar Settlements was organised as a preparatory effort for provision of life support systems for the proposed Malapert Base (on the moon). The base is expected to become habitable by 2025 under the lunar colonisation programme of the US space agency NASA.

The paper presented by Prasanta and Pratip Banerji was based on the fact that the moon has no magnetic field and hence problems of dispersion, solubility, absorption, availability at tissue level, metabolism and excretion of drugs, including recycling problems and disposal, do exist.

"Thus, in such a state, the use of conventional medicines has its limitations. An alternative to conventional medicines will be ultra-diluted medicines that may help solve the problems," said Prasanta Banerji.

Ultra-diluted medicines have the capability to act through nerve terminals when placed on our tongue to execute beneficial roles in our body.