Quackwatch

Had to visit the office of the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DYSP) today because the Ayurveda Medicine Manufacturer's Association made an official complaint to the State Chief Minister's Office which was then sent out as a priority notice to police officers downstream for further investigation. The complaint about me was on the following reasons: 1. I am continuously defaming and denigrating Ayurvedic practice by educating the public on dangers of herbal medicines which could have toxic plants, contamination and adulteration. 2. I feature on various YouTube science channels to degrade Ayurvedic practice by educating the public on dangers of herbal medicines which could have toxic plants, contamination and adulteration. 3. I am very vocal about pseudoscientific and unscientific claims promoted by the alternative medicine industry and this is affecting Ayurvedic industry and practitioners. 4. I spoke on social media about the time an Ayurvedic Drugs Controller visited my clinical department asking for herbal drugs analysis (when in fact they should have already known about such analysis as part of their duty towards regulation, quality control and manufacturing). 5. The complaint was also specifically on one video which featured me and other rationalists, where I spoke about the time when large right-wing accounts on Twitter gave me death threats online (Ayurveda practitioners were hurt because I spoke the truth): youtube.com/watch?v=-PewUqKw… The police officers were very polite, curious and interested in everything I had to say. They wrote down my statements and the fact that everything that I had spoken on YouTube and on social media about alternative medicine industry including Ayurveda were backed by scientific evidence and peer-reviewed publications. The officers told me that this was a "civil case" and was not actionable by the police (non-cognizable offense) and that they will not be taking further action on this and will submit their report on it soon. They wanted to record my statements and facts as a response to the [lame] complaint. The Ayurveda practitioners and the industry does not know how to deal with science and logic and scientific practitioners. Abusing the law and legal to silence & harass science communicators does not make Ayurveda any scientific. It is and always will remain a pseudoscience. The least they can do is stop promoting magical claims and keep their house in order by following good manufacturing practices by avoiding known contamination, adulteration and organ-toxic herbal components from their shitty products. A small downside of the whole ordeal was that I was quite late to start the OPD and my patients were slightly frustrated, but in the end, everything played out well. Thank you for all your warm wishes! I appreciate it 🙏