The mass adulteration of Ashoka Tree products in herbal medicines is actually impeding the growth of the tree in plantations.
A rough survey of the Karnataka Forest Department show that nearly 25,000 trees are present in the forest land across the Western Ghats. Not one tree has even a single cut on it. “There are area plans for the sustainable extraction of the bark as forest produce. But this is clearly not happening. Even private plantations have not come up as pharmaceutical companies will rather buy cheap adulterated formulations,” R.M.N. Sahai, chairman, Karnataka Bio-Diversity Board, said.
With the sector remaining unorganised, and wholesale retailers having little idea of the source of their products, the department is struggling to implement the Access Benefit Sharing scheme that will see villages get royalty from forest produce.
Thimappa Shettigar, registrar of Karnataka State Ayurvedic and Unani Practitioners’ Board, termed the adulteration as the “deliberate cheating” done by pharma companies. “It does give the industry a bad name, especially when these formulations do not have the desired health effect,” he said.
