One of the fundamental principles of consumer protection is the availability of quality of goods and services. It is much more than getting the value for the money. It is a dignified respect and acknowledgment of one of the most basic needs of the consumer. This is not an inflated or unreasonable demand on the part of the consumer. When a consumer is mislead, overtly or covertly, into believing that a product is superior in quality than what it really is, an element of deceit creeps in. Violated here is the human rights of the consumer. Ignorance and inability to assert have long been a serious bane for the consumers. But these were the trump cards, the manufacturers of goods and providers of services have been exploiting to the tilt, though with no moral entitlements. Distortion and deliberate concealment of facts to lure consumers is a sad reality of the market.
Quality presupposes safety. Safety means that nobody is made to use a product or service without realising the intrinsic risks involved. For example, if the product is a poison, so be it known as one, and should be used for the purpose of poisoning only. There should be no false claims; no camouflaging. May be this is, in pure and simple terms, what is called ‘product transparency’.

Legal Safeguards
There are several legislations which control supply of goods and services. One such law which regulates and controls the import, manufacture, sale and distribution of drugs and cosmetics is the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940. Its main aim is to protect the consumer from sub-standard drugs and cosmetics.
If any drug is so coloured, coated, powdered or polished that damage is concealed or if it is made to appear better or having greater therapeutic value than it really has, labelled not in the prescribed manner, if its label or container or anything accompanying the drug bears any statement, design or device which makes any false claim for the drug or which is false or misleading in any manner, action can be taken under the Act.
The Act prescribes that the drugs should comply with the standard set out in the second schedule as given in the Act. Misbranding of drugs, in all forms, is prohibited so also false and misleading claims. The drug will be deemed adulterated if it consists, in whole or in part, of any filthy, putrid or decomposed substances or prepared, packed or stored under unsanitary conditions or using unpermitted colours or harmful/toxic substances. Spurious drugs are those which are imported under a false name, or an imitation or a substitute.

Indian Systems under the Scrutiny
An amendment to the Act in 1964 brought Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani Tibb drugs under its purview. It prescribed that all medicines in these systems intended for internal and external use in diagnosis, treatment, mitigation or prevention of disease in human beings or in animals should be manufactured exclusively in accordance with the formulae described in the authoritative text books of Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani Tibb systems. (as specified in the first schedule of the Act).
The provisions for misbranded, adulterated and spurious drugs are same as for allopathic drugs. If the government is satisfied that any of these drugs involve any risk to human beings or animals or that it does not have the therapeutic value claimed, it may ban them. The government can appoint inspectors and analysts and the same rules made under the Act in relation to allopathic drugs will apply in this case also. References to drugs shall be construed to include medicines under ayurvedic or unani drugs.
Unlike in the case of allopathic drugs where an individual consumer, consumer organisation or the drug controller can prosecute the importer, manufacturer or seller or distributor of drugs or cosmetics for offences under the Act, with fine or imprisonment or both, the offender in ayurvedic drugs can be brought to book only by the drug inspector by instituting criminal proceedings against him. Unfortunately market conditions are not in the side of the consumer. The allopathic drug scenario is heavily loaded against the consumer. Medicines under the Indian Systems of Medicine have remained untarnished for many centuries. But the situation is fast changing. 80 per cent of Ayurvedic medicines are manufactured locally, by over 7000 companies which are sold over the counter. Commercialism has led to deceptive advertisements of herbal drugs proclaiming potency in anything from aphrodisiacs to life-savers. Unscientific preparations with no proven therapeutic abilities hit the market every day. Lack of standardisation and the absence of a Pharmacopoeia of Ayurvedic preparations defy effective drug control. The reasons for this proliferation is, of course, the absence of effective control and regulatory mechanisms, giving of special tax exemptions and the age-old faith of people in traditional medicines. So any effort to discourage fictitious Ayurvedic drugs should help protect the cause of genuine Ayurveda and the interests of consumers.
Certain modifications were brought about in the recent past in the Schedule-J of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act which has generated a debate in the Ayurvedic drug industry. The new guidelines imposed a ban on advertisements claiming cure for ailments like liver disorders, and for memory enhancement etc. for which no Ayurvedic drugs offer prevention or cure. Dabur India felt that this denotes the death-knell of the herbal industry, whereas the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Voluntary Health Association (VHAI) welcomed the move. They felt that it would bring about the much-needed check on sub-standard herbal products, which use unacceptable manufacturing and marketing practices.
We don’t agree with the contention that the small-scale ayurvedic drug companies will now close down because of the amendment. This is because the small manufacturers and local Vaidyas who gain acceptance over the years never sell their products through glossy advertisements. Only big companies, who float fancy "products which are in search of diseases" will get affected. The laws like this is the only way to regulate the anarchic style of functioning of the industry. The exploitation of India’s herbal heritage by multinational companies has been going on even before the amendment. Efforts has to be put to resist the indiscriminate exploitation of Indian herbs by these companies.

An Unwelcome Diversification
Consumers have reasons to be alarmed about the way some allopathic drug companies are shifting over to herbal products for quick profits. Some of their products are questionable and their intentions surreptitious. Irrationality does not restrict to allopathic drugs alone. Because of the modern thinking that everything is safe and fine with Ayurvedic medicines, unscrupulous manufacturers have jumped into the ayurvedic bandwagon. Some of them also produce irrational formulations in the name of Ayurvedic medicines. Because of lacunae in the law, Vicks can become a herbal product, Liv-52 can become a liver tonic (prescribed even by allopathic doctors), Livocin can be advertised as a health tonic (claimed to be good even for growth of hair), Chyawanprash can become a money spinning business, and so on! Who needs proof of efficacy, harmlessness or care for the risk-benefit information?.
Dr. S.G. Kabra, a health activist of Jaipur, says "the commercial concept of tonics, so assiduously fostered by modern pharmaceutical companies, has now been very conveniently hijacked by the so-called purveyors of indigenous medicine. Any part of a plant or an animal, or even their products or excreta, which have been referred to in some ancient or indigenous text is a good ingredient for a tonic. The greater the number of such ingredients, the wider is the tonic power claimed".
As a result, the market today is flooded with ‘uterine tonics’ to tone up bad uterus (whatever that means), ‘liver tonics’ to similarly tone up the liver (if such a highly complex natural chemical laboratory could be ‘toned up’), ‘brain tonics’ for the mentally deficient, ‘heart tonics, lung tonics, stomach and intestinal tonics and now hair tonics and skin tonics’. And of course the sex tonics, mainly ayurvedic, provide the biggest and the most lucrative market for such indigenous medicines. These tonics are to the current practice of medicine what commercial sex is to social living. Witness their similarities; diversification and refinements; market forces and trace practices, morals and compulsions; and state acceptance and patronage.
A few examples of currently available tonics are Hemiphos, Hepatoglobine, Livernut-Iron, Nervitone, Neurophosphates, Pulmo-Cod (C&G), R.B. Tone, Biovital, Renergy, Trinergic, Globac etc.

Need for a Rational ISM Policy
As far as consumer protection is concerned, there is a need to promote a rational approach to the use of medicines of all systems. Drugs are the most important ingredients in disease management. How long the health consumers will have to wait for a rational policy on Indian Systems of Medicine which will restore the sanctity of the age-old tradition and prevent unscrupulous elements from exploiting it fill their own coffers?

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