Critics assail India's attempt to ‘validate’ folk remedySanjay Kumar
Science 03 Mar 2017: Vol. 355, Issue 6328, pp. 898
Summary
According to Hindu tradition, Indian cows are not only sacred—they are the source of a cure-all for everything from schizophrenia and autism to diabetes and cancer. That elixir is panchagavya, a drink made of cow urine, dung, milk, yogurt, and clarified butter prescribed by practitioners of Ayurveda, or traditional Indian medicine, and spread on fields as well to boost crop yields. Now, India's science ministry is about to launch a program that aims to "validate" the efficacy of the millennia-old concoction. The program has influential backers. But some prominent researchers decry what they see as an attempt to add a veneer of legitimacy to unscientific claims. And others view the new program as the latest instance of a more insidious trend: an attempt by India's Hindu nationalist government to enlist the nation's science to support its worldview.
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/355/6328/898Excerpts:
"But some prominent researchers decry what they see as an attempt to add a veneer of legitimacy to unscientific claims. It's an insult to science, says Pushpa Mittra Bhargava, a biologist and former director of the Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology in Hyderabad, India, who has reviewed the panchagavya literature. In the few papers he has found, he says, the authors 'had absolutely no inkling of what scientific research is.'
"Others view the panchagavya program as the latest instance of a more insidious trend: an attempt by India's Hindu nationalist government to enlist the nation's science to support its worldview."
"Addressing a group of physicians that fall [2014], [Prime Minister] Modi pointed to mythology as proof of India's early scientific prowess. He hailed legends of babies conceived outside the womb centuries ago and declared that the Hindu god Ganesha, who has the head of an elephant and the body of a human, showed the advanced state of plastic surgery in ancient India."
"The government's embrace of mythology has shifted from talk into action. In late 2015, the science ministry initiated a program called Satyam, short for science of yoga and meditation. Next up is the panchagavya program, which will be carried out at the Center for Rural Development and Technology here."
"Bhargava doubts that the studies will be objective. 'There is a presupposition' that panchagavya is effective, he asserts. The program's backers, he says, 'want to put a seal of approval on it to cater to their preconceived notions. That's not the case, says Kavya Dashora, a panchagavya program coordinator at the rural development center. 'If we find negative results, we will say so,' she says."
