Research papers proved cow urine has antifungal properties: IIT-M Director

Chennai: Unfazed by all-round criticism on his “peddling pseudo-science”, the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) Director Prof V Kamakoti on Monday stood his ground by “providing scientific evidence” that gomutra (cow urine) contained anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. 

Kamakoti’s “clarification” came days after his speech made at an event on January 15 in which he shared an ancient tale of a sanyasi who cured his fever with cow urine in just 15 minutes went viral on social media. The IIT-M Director came under all-around attack for “peddling pseudo-science” and propagating unscientific methods for curing diseases. 

The comments also triggered a political controversy with CPI-M demanding that Kamakoti, a highly talented and distinguished professor, be removed as IIT-M Director. The professor had never hid his religious identity and in fact openly proclaimed that he doesn’t hold a passport as his Dharam” (religion) prohibits him from travelling abroad. 

“The question is whether there is scientific validation (for my comments). I am sending five research papers with one of them published in Nature journal. There is also a patent in this regard. The research papers say cow urine contains anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, and it has been scientifically proven,” Kamakoti added. 

“The outputs of the research papers are the scientific proof that cow urine does have certain properties,” the IIT-M Director said. 

The 2021 research paper done by National Dairy Research Institute and published in Nature journal publication did find evidence of peptides in cow urine showing antimicrobial properties against certain bacteria. However, the researchers also cautioned that more experiments were needed.

While Kamakoti’s comments triggered a backlash, there was also support for him with many sharing videos of the IIT-M Director’s press conference in December 2024 about the institute’s path breaking research on human fetal brain. They also said Kamakoti merely expressed his own belief and he shouldn’t be “unnecessarily targeted.”

 Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram said Kamakoti’s proclamations were “pseudoscience," while Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam utilised the opportunity to take on the BJP by accusing it of “ruining” education in the country.