What's the future of ayurveda in USA?
Traditional medicine systems are now growing faster in the us than even modern medicine. Ayurveda is not licensed for practice, unlike Chinese and naturopathic medicines and chiropractics licensed in some states. Of the people who do accept traditional medicine, around 10 per cent would be using ayurveda. Americans are using these medicines even though they have to pay out of pocket and are not covered by insurance. Now, some insurance companies are covering traditional medicines; they have realised people who use traditional medicines are less expensive: they do not need expensive surgeries, hospital stays, testing and medication.

Why are some forms of alternative medicine licensed and not ayurveda?
In the us, licensing is by state and not at the national level. It's a matter of lobbying, political pressure and money. Getting a licence requires a fair amount of support and the Chinese community has done better. They are an older community than Indians in the us and they support their medicine system better. The medical practitioners of Indian origin in the us and the non-resident Indian (nri) community have not done much. The American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (aapi), with around 50,000 members, has only recently started lending some support.

How do we promote ayurveda despite adverse reports on quality?
Issues of quality exist with all traditional medicines, and are used as a kind of scare tactic by the medical establishment. One line of attack is that these medicines have a lot of side effects. But a lot of pharmaceutical drugs have side effects, too. A lot of drugs have been removed from the market because of this. The drug industry wants to keep people afraid of herbs because drugs are much more dangerous. So they periodically scare people about herbs. Take the case of ephedra, which is just about twice as harmful as coffee. On the other hand, drugs like Tylenol are around 100-200 times more harmful.

What is stopping the US government from promoting ayurveda ?
The government does not accept these herbal medicines, for the pharmaceutical industry and the doctors who use their drugs control it. Let me give an example of their clout