 How do toxic heavy metals get into Ayurvedic medicines in the first place? In most cases, high levels of metals in Ayurvedic traditional herbal preparations results from intentional incorporation of certain metallic preparations, like lead oxide, mercury sulfide, arsenic trioxide. Not to worry, though, the heavy metals are claimed to be detoxified by, for example, heating and cooling the herbal mixtures in cow's urine. This is not just an India issue. Traditional medicines from around the world incorporate these poisons. In the Middle East, Saut is used as a teething powder for infants. It's 51% lead, one of a number of black lead-containing substances used as teething powder. Bakur is a Middle Eastern practice of burning lead sulfides to produce pleasant fumes to calm infants. They'll be calm all right. Traditional Latin American medicines include azarcon and gaita, almost pure lead used to treat constipation. In traditional Chinese herbal medicine, mercury is considered to have a tranquilizing, and, if you can believe it, a detoxifying effect. But wait a second, haven't these remedies been used for centuries? Sure, but that doesn't mean they're safe. In the West, let's not forget that bloodletting was among the most common medical practice performed by doctors for almost 2,000 years.