Animal Testing In Ayurveda

In the India section, a pattern appeared of ayurvedic substances or products being tested in labs on animals. Typical entries by Indian doctors were: Effect of hepatoprotective ayurvedic drugs on lipases following CC14 induced hepatic injury in rats and The Ayurvedic medicines haritaki, amala and bahir reduce cholesterol-induced atherosclerosis in rabbits. In layman's terms, rabbits' arteries were clogged and rats' livers ravaged. Routinely, all lab animals are killed after experiments end. Is ayurveda, the "deep science of life," building a bio-medical and commercial reputation on cruel animal exploitation? Perhaps the most alarming instance is the testing of Maharishi Ayur-Veda Products International's Maharishi Amrit Kalash. Maharishi Ayurveda International Products is a profit company of Transcendental Meditation. In an article on the Maharishi system of ayurveda published in the May 1991 Journal of the American Medical Association TM authors used several paragraphs to tell how three formulas of Maharishi Amrit Kalash were tested in American universities on animals purposely given breast and lung cancer. Another animal test was run in conjunction with doctors from the University of Madras in India. TM advertises its ayurveda product line in many health, self-help and spiritual consciousness magazines In the West. The ads don't mention the animal experiments. As such, TM's ayurvedic line would make the PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the most influential animal rights organization in the US) hit list of products to boycott because of animal cruelty. A recent poll in the US tallied 80% of the American public want animal experimentation terminated. It could be sooner if organizations like the India chapter of Beauty Without Cruelty became a guiding force. Beauty Without Cruelty (BWC) - founded in the US - is the leading animal protection group in India. Even with offices in Pune (headquarters). New Delhi, Madras and Bangalore, BWC is still a mouse always about to be trampled by the elephantine size of India. BWC's founding chapters in America are successfully pressuring US cosmetic firms to stop piling up animal carcasses as ingredients and test subjects. Cosmetics are tested for toxicity to skin, eye and internal ingestion on rabbits in a series of lengthy, painful, finally deadly trials. The India BWC branches have barely focused on cruel cosmetics. Their attention is consumed in large-scale animal poaching and product exportation. Ar