VARANASI: After signing global treaty Minamata Convention India will have to phase out use of mercury within six to 10 years. But, an Ayurveda professor of Rasa Shastra department at Banaras Hindu University has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention in getting exemption from the treaty for medicinal use of mercury in Ayurveda.

“Mercury used in religious or traditional ceremonies is exempt from the treaty. Our request is that the availability and use of mercury should be allowed for Ayurveda preparations, which are harmless,” said Prof.

Anand Kumar Chaudhary, head of the department of Rasa Shastra (Ayurvedic Pharmaceutics ), Institute of Medical Sciences, BHU. “On the eve of Dhanvantari Jayanti on Monday, we sent a letter to the PM requesting him for the availability of mercury for medicinal purpose in Ayurveda. The ancient Ayurveda system of medicine will be hit greatly if it is not exempted from global ban on the trade of mercury,” he said.

He said mercury-based Indian traditional drug Ras-Sindoor is administered for various ailments like syphilis, genital disorders and for rejuvenation. Pharmaceutical processing of Ras-Sindoor involves treating metallic mercury with sulfur and the juice of the aerial root of banyan tree, and then controlled intermittent heating so that the metallic state is transformed into the corresponding sulfide form.

"We support the ban of mercury for its harmfulness to the environment. But an exemption is essential for Ayurvedic medicines. Mercury can be dangerous to health and environment if used in vapour form, organic and other forms without undergoing various stages of purification,” he said.

“The method of purification and calcination of mercury to make it harmless for use in medicines is around 1500 years old and is known only to India. There are eight different processes under Sanskar, Sodhan and Maran through which the mercury has to undergo before using it in medicines. The westerners are not aware of it. Although they have realised the medicinal values of mercury in 19th century but the researches failed because they use organic and chlorides of mercury which prove dangerous,” he added.

He said that mercury has significant use in the preparation of rasaoushadhies (bio-mineral formulations) in India. Mercury is never used in elemental, ionic or organic form. Its inorganic form is used, which is mostly sulphide. Every metal, mineral and mercury used in rasa shastra as medicines are always in the inorganic compound form, which is well established and validated.

The Minamata Convention on mercury is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury. It has been named after a Japanese city -- Minamata -- that had witnessed one of the worst incidents of industrial poisoning by mercury in 1950s. India signed the global treaty in September last.

