Ayurvedic herbal mineral and metallic formulations which are prepared according to the standard operative procedure laid down in the formularies and which have been detoxified in terms of the purification processes laid down in the classical texts are safe and are not hazardous to health. Such medicines are widely used in the country and no adverse reports have been received about them.
The regulatory authorities in some countries have issued alerts against certain Ayurvedic products on the grounds that they contain heavy metals in higher limits that permissible in food material. These alerts have been issued on the basis of the standards prescribed in those countries for health food supplements.As per the Government orders, it is mandatory to enclose the test report for heavy metal estimation with export consignments of purely herbal Ayurvedic, Siddha or Unani medicine with effect from 1st January, 2006. Exporters have been asked to comply with these orders.
The State Drug Licensing Authorities have been directed to ensure full compliance by all ASU drug manufacturers of the provisions of Rule 161 (1) and (2) of the Drug and Cosmetics rules, 1945 relating to displaying on the label of the container or in a leaflet to be inserted in the package of an ASU drugs, the true list of all the ingredients used in the manufacture of the preparations together with the quantity of each of the ingredients incorporated therein.
Government has instructed all States under the provision of Rule 154 (2) of the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 to constitute Expert Committees for advising the State Licensing Authority before any manufacturing unit is given a license for the manufacture of any patent and proprietary Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani medicine.
This information was given by the Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.
Source-PIB
LIN/P
