Cow urine pushed as health cure in India
Thursday, November 8, 2001
Hindu nationalists in India have launched a marketing exercise to promote cow's urine as a health cure.

They say the urine, being sold for 30p a bottle, can be used for ailments ranging from liver disease to obesity and even cancer.

The urine is being sold under the label "Gift of the Cow", and is being enthusiastically promoted by the government of Gujarat.

The urine is collected every day from almost 600 shelters for rescued and wounded cattle, and is available in about 50 centres in Gujarat.

It also comes in tablets or a cream mixed with other traditional medicinal herbs and demand is currently outstripping supply.

Dr Jadi Patel, at the VHP's headquarters in Ahmedabad, said: "It's very popular because the results are very good, but we've got a shortage."

The healing properties of cow dung and cow's urine are mentioned in ancient Hindu texts and authorities claim research conducted by doctors at the cow-protection commission indicates the urine can cure anything from skin diseases, kidney and liver ailments to obesity and heart ailments.

Although most Indian doctors view the medicines as eccentric, several advocates of the treatment have come forward in Gujarat to support the claims, reports the Daily Telegraph.

They include Vidhyaben Mehta, a 65-year-old woman with a cancerous tumour on her chest who has been taking cow's urine for the past three years. She says she is no longer in pain and has survived in spite of medical predictions that she would die two years ago.

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