Opposing GM, supporting Kali Amma

by Chandre Dharmawardana
[Professor, Université de Montreal, and Principal Research Scientist-Emeritus, National Research Council of Canada]

The claim that the “Western Mafia” has a stranglehold on traditional opinion in Sri Lanka in opposing the free distribution of the “Kali-Anma Paeni” or the “Hela-Suvaya Dum Hattiya” against the Covid Pandemic is seen to be false by the stand taken on Gentically Modified (GM) products in Sri Lanka. Similarly, the political success achieved by Venerable Rathana and others in banning glyphosate provides added proof of the power of those who support the occult sciences and oppose modern science. The glyphosate ban was reversed only when the tea market was about to collapse, with the agricultural sector having faced a loss several times larger than the loss from the bond scam.

The opposition to the herbicide roundup, the opposition to golden rice by Vandana Shiva and her followers, are also based on the ideological and unscientific opposition to GM. Dr. Sanath Gunatilleke who god-fathered Dr. Channa Jayasumana’s doctoral studies is a leading anti-GM crusader who inducted the young Jayasumana and Ms. Seneviratne of “Helasuvaya” to the same crusade.

Insulin and many pharmaceuticals have for many decades been based on GM and this is ignored by our anti-GM crusaders. They “don’t need such things” because they claim to have their own medications, e.g, “Dum Hattiya” (smoke inhalation) and “Kola Kaenda” (Herbal broth) that “cure Covid in less than four days”, as asserted in April 2020.

However, with several leading anti-Covid vaccines being based on RNA technology (i.e., GM technology) at least some people may open their eyes. Nevertheless, in Sri Lanka it is not GM, but Kali Amma and Nath Deviyo who reign, as one may ascertain from the many articles that appear in the Lnaka-C-news, Lanka web, etc. See the recent articles by Dr. Channa Jayasumana and Dr. Nalin de Silva.

Dr. Jayasuman may remember that his peers claimed that God Natha made a “sannivedanaya” to the effect that the soil, water and the diet of the Rajarata farmers contain high amounts of Arsenic. However, no significant amounts (not even 10 parts per billion) of Arsenic has been found even by Kelaniya University scientists who worked under the thumb of Dr. Nalin de Silva. So the proved to be incorrect.
Venerable Ratana, who gave support to the alleged God Natha “revelation on the presumed cause of Kidney disease” is said to have asked, if the revealed truths given in the Bible and Quran could be accepted, why we should not accept the truth revealed by Goddess “Kali Amma”, So, in that case, given that the Manthree Haamuduruvo accepts the truths revealed by Kali Amma, Natha Deviyo et al does he accept the revealed truths given in the Bible and the Kuran? How did the Venerable Monk ascertain that it was indeed Kali Amma, who communicated with Dr. Dhammika Bandara?

Dr. Dhammika Bandara has claimed that if someone takes his medicine for a few days, then he acquires immunity against the Corona virus for life. Obviously, he cannot make that claim as NOT A SINGLE life-long test of any sort has been carried out. It is claimed that some medical doctors have covertly collaborated with him and proved that his medicine cures Covid patients. If so, there must be clinical records of those tests and they should be examined to see if there is a preliminary case in support of Dr. Dhammika Bandara.

Dr. Bandara may claim that the “recipe” came to him in a dream, or handed to him by Badhra Kali, or understood by him while sitting and meditating under a tree, or whatever.

The method of discovery does not establish the validity of the discovery. The Buddha himself did not attempt to validate his teaching by HOW he reached enlightenment. The Kalama Sutta, the Gnana Sutta (less well known in Southern Buddhism), and the “Ehipassiko” doctrine indicate the empirical approach advocated by the Buddha. The Buddha exhorted, “Oh Monks, to know if a metal is a base metal or a noble metal, use the touchstone – in the same way know my teaching”. The issue is not the path to the product, but the CLAIMS made for the product itself and they have to be established by the empirical method (touch stone), and not by appealing to gods, and not the nature of the path used to arrive at the answer.
The issue here is three fold:

(i) Can the proposed medication actually cure Covid patients or become a defence (act as a prophylactic) against the Corona virus? Note that the mortality rate from this disease is less than 0.3% and hence most people who contract the infection recover in any case.

(ii) Until it is established that the proposed medication is effective, selling goods making such a claim is to make money by false advertisement.

(iii) To claim that there is a national emergency, and so one can bypass step one is incorrect, as by passing step one may cause other tragedies and so this is the worst time to “cut corners”. Only justifiable thing is to give priority to such tests, if there is indeed a preliminary basis for the claim. If the objective is to sell it as a food product, then too, its safety needs to be established and there is then no hurry about it.
From a biochemical point of view, one can fairly definitely say that a mixture of Nutmeg, ginger and coriander or any other well-known herb, cooked in bee honey can have no effect on the virus. This is based on a vast corpus of chemical knowledge, and our knowledge of the stereo-specific “lock-and-key” type of action of a virus on a target cell. The immune system has to develop antibodies that block the “lock and key sockets” used by the virus, and this is why genetic materiel from the virus is needed in the anti-viral product.

Vadhakaha is an established traditional herbal medicine, and yet, its use during the solar eclipse in the 1950s after its recommendation by a very respected monk led to widespread poisoning. Similarly, there have been many “traditional” herbal remedies and cow-urine products recommended in India for various illnesses varying from Dengue and Cancer to Leprosy that led to deaths of patients. These show that even with “traditional treatments”, the precautionary principle of adequate testing prior to approval for marketing is absolutely needed. However, instead of looking at the issue as a matter of protecting the consumer, be it from a Western pharmaceutical product or from a traditional herbal product, the issue has been posed as a tug of war between a “patta-pal-boru Western Science” and a long standing heritage of traditional knowledge buttressed by divine revelations from a highly respected, even feared Hindu goddess who has found a place in Lankan culture even prior to the arrival of Prince Vijaya.

These political posturings will perhaps indicate how Dr. Dhammika Banadara may move forward in the future, if he has the same political acumen and media savvy that he has shown so far.

Just as Dr. Jayasumana became a politician riding on the crest of the Kidney disease, can the Kovil Physician Dr. Dhammika Bandara who has the support of Kali Amma as well as many politicians now move into the political arena and aim to become the future Minister of Pharmaceuticals?