Relenting to pressure for certain quarters, the central government has decided to set up a committee of experts to study if the ancient concoction of cow urine mixed with cow dung, milk, curd and ghee has medicinal value. The research will be coordinated by the Centre for Rural Development and Technology at IIT Delhi. The brief to the committee is quite simple – does this mixture cure anything? In 2002 a US patent was granted to a group of scientists of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research who claimed that a distillate of cow urine acted as a bioenhancer, enhancing the anti-microbial activity of antibiotics and antifungal agents, a finding that caused Maneka Gandhi to demand that cow urine be used to clean floors in government offices instead of phenyl. On the other hand a mixture of cow urine and other ingredients resulted in the death of several children in Nigeria. A 1975 study on mice found that cow urine in excess caused death. There are many who would swear by the therapeutic benefits of cow urine, but without the benefit scientific research one will never know for sure. Hence the decision of the government to study the matter is welcome because it will set the record straight on a practice rooted in ancient belief.
