A recent spurt in rationalist activism has rattled a cohort of pseudoscientists.
Ujjawal Krishnam
When Dr. Cyriac Abby Philips, Kerala-based hepatologist, detected a pattern of general lack of any identifiable causes commonly associated with liver problems among several of his patients, he performed liver biopsies and diligently studied their clinical histories. Patients were consumers of so-called Ayurvedic and Herbal Medicines, he reported. Their systematic toxicological analyses, published in Indian Journal of Gastroenterology (Jan 2018), subsequently detected hepatotoxic volatile organic compounds (hVOCs), arsenic and mercury, that had caused deaths.
Fast forward to Sep 2021, Ministry of AYUSH—the national caretaker of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa and Homeopathy systems—rushes headlong into white-collar hit-job: doctor is threatened with “defamation proceedings” for calling Ayurvedic drugs “unscientific, hepatotoxic and GMP certified companies of Ayurvedic medicines as quack”.
Spreading awareness by publicly sharing outcome of an investigation into so-called Homeopathic Medicines has now won him the myriad death threats, and if Dr. Cyriac meets Dr. Narendra Dhabolkar’s fate, policy makers will not miss an opportunity to re-enact the stunt, of writing letters and expressing condolences.
Rule-based exceptions
NHRIMH maintains that Dr. Philips’s report on Arsenicum Album 30C (dilution by ~10^-60) was limited to “the sample submitted for testing”, but the bottom line is that arsenic is poisonous to humans.
Of course, there exist many speculative ‘peer-reviewed’ articles in pay-and-publish journals on Complementary and Alternative/Integrative Medicine (CAM/CIM), masquerading as scientific literature supporting, for instance, the use of homeopathic drugs like Ars Alb 30C for humans because, wherein the basic format of argument goes, “[X drug] triggers ameliorative responses in [Y microbe] exposed to [Z compound of heavy metal].”
If this is the logic proponents of such concoctions are selling, then, instead of ‘wasting’ time in following principles of evidence-based vaccinology to develop effective and safe vaccines against severe Covid-19, disinfectants could have been effortlessly administered into humans, as Trump suggested, because “like cures like”? As evident in the case of homeopath Anke Zimmerman who went viral for ‘treating’ a boy with Lyssinum 10M, which is saliva of rabid dog diluted by a factor of ~10^20000, that was superbly debunked by Dr. Joseph Schwarcz of McGill University, and the bubble has burst, once and for all: “Homeopathic dilutions amount to concentrated nonsense.”
Similarly, and perhaps more alarmingly, Ayurvedic misadventure is as pseudoscientific as all quacks audaciously appropriating their quackery as dāktari truly are. Arguments regarding end-product non-toxicity have been placed in defense of its so-called Bhasma system of ‘nanomedicine’, ‘systematizing’ processing of metallic and non-metallic preparations, alchemy-like, that includes ‘calcination’ of such compounds with cow dung cakes.
Notwithstanding the phantasmagorical trickery, illogic is self-evident, since presumption that elements like lead—nag bhasma?—and mercury—parad bhasma?—are safe for human consumption, let alone the flimflam to market them for their pharmacological benefits, is a sham, sheer madness that cannot be allowed to roam freely, for there now exist well-networked money machines that weaponize effete principles to feed poisons, quite sweetly, into innocent people.
A wider agenda
U.S. Food and Drug Administration cautions people not to use hazardous ayurvedic drugs. One interesting case was that of “Balguti Kesariya Ayurvedic Medicine”, which is sold unrestrictedly by Kesari Ayurvedic Pharmacy in India with claims of treating cold, worms, dentition in children but when it was somehow brought to U.S.A., FDA Laboratory confirmed the presence of heavy metals and embargoed it, in 2017. Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Laura Breeher et al. reported in Int J Occup Environ Health (Oct 2015) the largest cluster of heavy metal poisoning—45 of 115 participants with blood lead levels of 10mcg/dl and 9.6% of them at or above 50 mcg/dl—in U.S.A. following use of Ayurvedic drugs.
Back home, AYUSH officials also have been arrested, on charges of petty bribery however, at much shallower levels of the scam that AYUSH ecosystem stands guard over. At deeper levels, instances of laxity in monitoring of traditional drugs for their efficacy and safety and recent cases of advertisement of Goods Manufacturing Practice-Certificate of Pharmaceutical Product (GMP-CPP) issued by AYUSH section of DGCI as WHO Certification—so it is unsurprising that clarification is offered only when public criticisms seem to be clearly threating to the commercial prospects—sum up all that can be clubbed under Coronil Affair, an appropriate label for all that plagues the CAM/CIM regime in India.
Establishing of Department of Indian Systems of Medicine and Homoeopathy (ISM&H) in 1995 and its transformation into Department of AYUSH in 2003 and final elevation to a full-fledged Ministry didn’t strengthen the pharmacovigilance systems that should have been ordinarily done with huge funds at their disposal. Perhaps it was never the aim of these mechanizations. The script was to emulate the zealotry of friend-turned-foe Xi Jinping, a peddler of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), who also attempted to completely outlaw ‘smearing’ of TCM, and Xi’s skillful one-upmanship, by all means. To enhance international standing with indigenous journals, PRC spends as much as USD 30 M. This includes state-supervised TCM journals, like Zhong Xi Yi Jie He Xue Bao (Journal of Chinese Integrative Medicine), which occasionally accommodate fringe theories from India, somewhat of a coming-of-age mangy bonhomie.
No way ahead
Eliciting further testimony, government’s responsibility towards 51 A(h) which makes it a fundamental duty of every citizen to develop scientific temper, I filed an RTI query demanding the informational basis of Prime Minister’s claim that plastic surgeon fixed an elephant head on Lord Ganesha. P.M.O. responded that it doesn’t maintain records of inputs for his speeches. Well, this puts sciences into perspective, and lends credence to cross-system medical practice, with ‘bridge courses’—I would still like to ask, why did final NMC Bill drop contentious “AYUSH” terminology?—that enable quacks to prescribe allopathic medicines they vilipend.
This nonsense, flotsam of pseudoscientific extravaganzas of past, has no way out, and therefore, I will not argue for any middle-path standardization of these practices. Answer is simple, nonsense cannot be standardized. It is time for an all-out offensive on pseudoscience which is making a mockery of the fundamental right to life, under Article 21 of the constitution of this land, of which health is a sine qua non, thus necessitating judicial intervention.
Note: The article, originally written in Feb 2022, was intended for a news publication. Editor “referred this article to some scientist friends because I thought one study may not be enough to call entire systems of medicine pseudoscience. They are still to respond.” I withdrew my submission. Editor responded: “Sorry this happened. But, the experts did not get back. And the article read more like an opinion piece based on a study by a practitioner, not on rigorous research. Hope you understand.” Now I have decided to self-publish this polemic in recognition of the impact of Dr. Cyriac‘s relentless pursuit of quality medical science. I can proudly say the piece was so timely and prescient. But it is the Indian news media, incompetence galore.
Ujjawal Krishnam 
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