Disposing of a plea which claimed that 'Kaai (red ant) chutney can prevent the Covid-19 virus infection, the Orissa High Court has said the use of red ant chutney or soup by the tribal communities for medicinal and therapeutic purposes is based on their traditional knowledge systems which the court is hardly equipped to comment upon.
Dismissing the WP (C) No. 8317 of 2021, a Bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice BP Routray made this observation.Petitioner Nayadhar Padhial, Assistant Engineer (Civil), Takatpur of Mayurbhanj who belongs to the Bathudi Tribal Adibasi community, had claimed in his plea that 'Kaai or Kukuti chutney which is prepared using red ants, mixed with green chili, is a potent medicine that can boost the immunity system and thus, could prevent Covid 19 infection.
Earlier, the petitioner's representations were considered both by the Ministry of Ayush, Government of India as well as the CSIR.
In its communication, the CSIR said that it currently does not have the required expertise in the domain of entomophagy and therefore, would not be able to pursue any action in the matter.
As regards the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences, it noted that it could not find any reference from the classical books of Ayurveda mentioned in the First Schedule of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 on the internal use of red ant chutney as claimed by the petitioner so as to validate it as Ayurvedic medicine.
Therefore, the use of red ant chutney for the beneficial use of the Covid19 patient is "out of the purview of Ayurveda drugs as per regulatory provisions of Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Rules, 1945."Red ant chutney is traditionally used as a medicine by tribal belts of Odisha , Jharkhand, Andhra and Chhattisgarh for flu, cough, common cold, breathing difficulties, fatigue, and other ailments.
According to a research paper by International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET) “red ants have medicinal properties which can cure cough, fever and cold.”
However, the claim saying red ant chutney is a cure for coronavirus so far has no scientific evidence. Unless it is scientifically proved, no medicine can be considered as an effective treatment for any disease.
