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Guru not clean, tests show
A DAY after a controversy broke out over medicines manufactured by yoga guru Swami Ramdev, the Health Ministry said the medicine samples sent by CPM leader Brinda Karat had tested positive for human content and animal tissues.
A DAY after a controversy broke out over medicines manufactured by yoga guru Swami Ramdev, the Health Ministry said the medicine samples sent by CPM leader Brinda Karat had tested positive for human content and animal tissues.
Samples sent by Karat, which she said were picked up from Ramdev’s Divya Yog pharmacy in Hardwar, were tested at laboratories in Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata. Various tests, including chemical and DNA fingerprinting, were conducted.
Results revealed that besides animal and human content, the samples were high on silicon, alum, iron, phosphorous and calcium.
Karat, who is in charge of the CPM in Uttaranchal, had gone to Hardwar last July to investigate labour law violations at Ramdev’s Divya Yog pharmacy.
Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss told reporters on Wednesday that the Uttaranchal government had been asked to pick more samples for testing as the first samples were not picked by any government agency. On Tuesday, reacting to Karat’s allegation, Ramdev had said the samples were doctored.
If the next round of tests on medicines picked from the pharmacy in Hardwar reveals similar results, Chapter 4A of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act will be invoked. The chapter deals with misbranding, adulteration, spurious drugs and licensing procedures and those found guilty under the provisions are subjected to criminal investigation.
Health Ministry sources said the chemical test on the medicine meant to treat epilepsy had “major quantities of calcium and phosphorous. The potency drug was rich in alum, silicon, calcium and iron”.
In Hyderabad, the samples were tested at three places: the National Centre for Characterisation and Composition of Materials (affiliated to the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre), the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology and the
Centre for DNA Finger Print Testing.
In Chennai, more samples were tested at the Department of Veterinary Pathology of the Madras Veterinary College. In Kolkata, samples were tested at the West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences.
The Citu said on Wednesday that the Centre and the Uttaranchal government should investigate the violation of labour laws and the rights of the employees at the pharmacy. It alleged that 115 workers, including 42 women, were wrongly sacked last year.
In Dehradun, Uttaranchal chief minister Narain Dutt Tiwari said all directions from the Centre on the Ramdev issue would be complied with. He refused to comment on Karat's allegations that the government had prior knowledge of illegal happenings at Ramdev's pharmacy.
Principal secretary (health) S.K. Das said acting on the Centre's directions, the state government had tested medicine samples from Divya Yoga Pharmacy but didn't find any undesirable substance in them. The reports had been sent to the Centre four months back.
With inputs from Dehradun
