EU Banned Ayurveda

It is an irony that when the whole world is progressing to become a global village, European Union (EU) has taken such a step which once again proved that despite all the slogans of equality, free trade and universal knowledge system, the colonial and proud mindset of Europe is not going to change. From May 01, 2011, EU has enacted some barriers in the form of Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive 2004/24/EC (THMPD) which would minimise the export of Ayurvedic medicines from India to zero. At the outset, it sounds a very big deal as the whole Ayurvedic export from India to EU would come to an end, but when we examine its economic value, we will be surprised by its small share in the world market. According to WHO, the international market of herbal products is estimated to be US $ 62 billion and India’s total Herbal (Ayurvedic) export to EU comprises less than 500 crore ruppes i.e. a mere 0.5 per cent of the world market. It is also important to note that Ayurvedic medicines are sold in Europe as a food supplement not as drug. It is not used for medicinal purpose. Then the main question arises; if India has such a small share in the world market, why was EU so eager to put an end to it? Why can’t EU tolerate India’s small role in the global herbal market? Is it only a question of market share and health consciousness or something else which compelled them to put these barriers?

It is interesting to observe that when the time from which THMPD would become effective came, entire Indian media roared that EU is banning Ayurveda. But this was not the case. In fact they have not directly banned anything. They have simply put some conditions for the sale of herbal (Ayurvedic) products. It is also interesting to know that EU had announced this directive in 2004 i.e. almost seven years in advance and also given a long period of seven years to the affected countries like India to put their points. India did put its points but failed to convince the members of EU and lastly, the directives become effective. According to these directives, Each and every herb which is to be sold in EU must be in use for more than 15 years in EU and for more than 30 years in the its country of origin. Second condition is that every herb is to be registered in their list and for registration they fixed a fee of around 60000 EURO (approx one crore rupee) per herb. Third and last condition is that their manufacturing unit wherever it may be, must be in accordance with the international standards. This again costs a handsome amount. Thus an Ayurvedic drug manufacturer has to spend several crore ruppes if he wishes to continue his business in Europe. Dr CK Katiyar, Director, Dabur Research Institute says: “The main problem is there are very few Ayurvedic medicines which consist of single herb. Almost every Ayurvedic medicine consists of more than two herbs. For example world famous Chyavanprash is made of more than 25 herbs, so if want to sell Chyavanprash, we have to register almost 25 herbs which will cost approx 25 crore rupee. Apart from this he has to establish a manufacturing unit according to international standards which again will cost several crore ruppes and it would not be a profitable business.”

When EU had announced these directives, since then India is fighting against it. Indian government sent many expert delegates to EU committee to convince them. But all these efforts went in vein. EU committee refused to accept any plea. Dr Katiyar who was also one of the expert representatives of the Indian government, says: “EU only agreed to loosen the first condition but they were adamant about the registration and its fee, and also for the international standardisation of manufacturing unit. This was not going to solve the problem. Then Government also offered subsidy to the Indian Ayurvedic manufacturers that government will bear the 50 per cent of the extra cost. But still the amount is so huge and the profit of the business is so low that it is almost impossible for any manufacturer to coop with the conditions and continue his business.”  The question arises that if EU was ready to loosen the time bond of 15 years, why was it adamant for the registration and its high fee? Does it remind us the import duties levied by the British government during its colonial rule over India on the Indian products, so that Indian manufacturer lose their business opportunity in their country and they can sell their own product freely in India? Apart from this, one more question arises, why Indian Ayurvedic manufacturer lacks the internal standards? Why India – the origin country of the herbs based nature therapy – while it has world class Allopathic (A non-Indian therapy system) research centres, lacks the required infrastructure and research facility in this field?

The reason lies behind the vision of Indian government. The first health minister of India Rajkumari Amrit Kaur once declared in the parliament that government would not allow any unscientific medicine system and therefore it will only concentrate on the development of Allopathic medicine system. One MP from Bihar Jhulan Singh had objected her and demanded to withdraw her statement. Rajkumari Amrit Kaur though withdrawn her statement but later it was quite clear that government was not interested in developing Indian System of Medicines (ISM). That is why we can see that while government had spent lakh of crore rupees in health budget, it had not spent a single rupee on ISM until 1964. Though the first health policy of India was made in 1952 but Ayurveda failed to get its space in it. In 1964 i.e. after 17 years of Independence of India, government first time thought about Ayurveda and established the first Ayuervedic College.

In 1970, the Indian Medical Central Council Act which aims to standardise qualifications for Ayurveda and provide accredited institutions for its study and research was passed by the Parliament of India and in 1983, National Health Policy was made which first time outlined that although vast infrastructure was available in the Indian Systems of Medicine for addressing health care of our people, they were under utilised. The policy suggested that it was necessary to initiate measures to enable each of these various systems of medicine and health care to develop in accordance with its genius. On the basis of the policy, a separate department named Department of Indian System & Homeopathy which is later developed in AYUSH was established in 1995. Thus proper effort for development of Ayerveda was started in 1995 i.e. after 45 years of Independence. But still government is very little concerned about it and has a very-very tiny budget for AYUSH. While budget allotted for health sector in 2011-12 is 26897 crore rupees, AYUSH has got only 1088 crore ruppes and that alsonot specifically for Ayurveda, it is for Homeopathy, Siddha and Yunani too. Thus Ayurveda get a small part of it. However government machinery is still not very keen to develop it. According to sources a big part of the fund allotted to AYUSH remained unutilised. This shows that how much our government and its machinery are concerned about the development of Ayerveda.

Despite the complete negligence on the part of government, Ayurveda with Yoga and Naturopathy is spreading worldwide. Today it is a fact that not only the Indian talent in the form of scientists, engineers, doctors but also the India knowledge Yoga, Ayurveda etc are rapidly becoming a part of the world economic and knowledge system. Properly speaking, Indian talent and knowledge systems are actually overshadowing the western systems. It is not a hidden fact that Medical Tourism of India is flourishing due to its Ayurveda and Naturo-therapy centres. People are coming to India from across the world as they are become aware of the side effects of the Allopathic medicine system. In Europe, people are concentrating on herbal products as well as therapy. Germany has the biggest share in the herbal market of Europe. The chairperson of the committee for THMPD is also a German. They were concerned about their indigenous system and are working hard to protect and develop it. That is why; they have imposed THMPD which prohibits the marketing of non-European herbs in its countries. But our government is still in a state of slumber. Though it has made a good effort to put its point on THMPD, but it is still little concerned for the development of Ayrveda within the country and it is very clear that until and unless we concentrate on the development of Ayurveda in our own country, we cannot market it in the world. THMPD is not mere restrictions on our Ayurvedic and herbal export it is a kind of barrier imposed on our knowledge system. As early as we and our government will realise it, the importance of Indian System of Medicine i.e. Ayurveda will be established in the world.