The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
WHY KERALA TEMPLES BANNED USE OF OLEANDER FLOWERS AS OFFERINGS
TWO KERALA government-controlled temple boards, which together manage 2,500-odd temples in the state, have banned the use of oleander flowers (locally known as arali) in temple offerings after a 24-year-old woman died after accidentally chewing some oleander leaves.
Here is what to know about oleander, its medicinal uses, and its toxicity.
First, what happened?
Surya Surendran, a 24-year-old nurse, died on April 30, prima facie due to accidental oleander poisoning.
Surendran had got a new job in the United Kingdom, and was set to leave on April 28. That morning, however, she chewed some leaves of an oleander shrub that grew outside her home in Pallipad, Alappuzha. She was on the phone, possibly absent-minded, and probably did not know or understand the danger from the plant.
She soon developed uneasiness, and vomited a few times. She went to Kochi airport, but collapsed there. She was taken to hospital, where she died a couple of days later.
Asked what she had eaten, she told doctors that she had chewed oleander leaves and flowers. The forensic surgeon, who conducted the autopsy, told police that she had suffered oleander poisoning.
What is oleander?
Nerium oleander, commonly known as oleander or rosebay, is a shrub or small tree that grows in tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions around the world, and is known for its drought tolerance. It has flowers of various colours including red, pink, and white, and is often used for ornamental and landscaping purposes.
In Kerala, the plant is known by the names arali and kanaveeram , and is grown along highways and beaches as a natural, green fencing.
Where is oleander used?
The Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India
(API), a government document that describes the quality, purity, and strength of drugs used in Ayurveda, mentions oleander. According to API, an oil prepared from the root bark can be used to treat skin diseases.
The plant has been “frequently described in Brihattrayi, Nighantus and other classical Ayurvedic texts. Charaka
(Charak Samhita) has prescribed the leaves of white flowered variety externally in chronic and obstinate skin diseases of serious nature including leprosy,”
Anamika Chaudhari and Bhawna Singh from the Himalayee Ayurvedic Medical College and Hospital, Dehradun, wrote in a research paper titled ‘A Critical Review of Karvira’, published in 2016 in the
International Journal of Ayurveda & Medical Sciences.
“Bhavaprakasha has described Karvira (another name of the plant) as a visha (poison) and indicated it in treatment of vrana (infected wounds), kustha (skin diseases including leprosy), krimi (microbes and parasites), kandu (itching),etc,”theywrote.
How toxic is oleander?
Even though it is prescribed in some ayurvedic formulations, the toxicity of oleander has been long recognised in cultures around the world. Researchers Shannon D Langford and Paul J Boor wrote the plant has been “exploited therapeutically and as an instrument of suicide since antiquity”. (‘Oleander toxicity: an examination of human and animal exposures’ published in the journal Toxicology in 1995). Inhalation of smoke from burning oleander can be intoxicating.
The toxicity of oleander is due to the properties of cardiac glycosides such as oleandrin, folinerin, and digitoxigenin, which are present in all parts of the plant.
“Cardiac glycosides are steroidal compounds capable of exerting pharmacological effects on cardiac muscle. The primary therapeutic value of these glycosides lies in their ability to exert profound tonic effects on the heart (stronger and faster heart contractions),” Langford and Boor wrote.
“However, the therapeutic window is small and overdose/ toxicity is frequently encountered when using these drugs,” they added.
Effects of oleander toxicity include nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting, rashes, confusion, dizziness, irregular heartbeats, slow heartbeats, and, in extreme cases, death. According to the website of New York’s Mount Sinai hospital, “Symptoms last for 1 to 3 days and may require a hospital stay. Death is unlikely.”