ABSTRACT
Testing for heavy metals and other contaminants in Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani products is already a part of Good Manufacturing Practices notified in 2003. The test reports received from these three laboratories disclose that lead, mercury and arsenic have not been found in these 600 Indian medicinal plant samples above the permissible limits laid down by World Health Organization which is 10 ppm for Lead, 1 ppm for Mercury and 3 ppm for Arsenic. The elemental characterization of preparations containing Naga bhasma has shown extremely high levels of lead content and various parameters must be taken into consideration in deciding the safety and critical issues present in traditional medicines. The main purpose of the investigation was to document evidence for the users, and practitioners of marketed Ashwagandha formulations. However for medicinal purposes, it should be collected from those areas, which are not contaminated with heavy metals.
