Govt plans to amend law, increase penalty for misleading health advertisements

In the original act, the maximum penalty is up to one year of imprisonment whereas the amount of fine has not been specified and has been left to the judge to decide

The Union Health Ministry has proposed amending a 65-year-old law to impose harsh punishment to those who release advertisements with misleading health claims ranging from sensitive tooth to sexual dysfunction.

On receiving complaints from several quarters, the ministry has come out with a draft to amend the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act 1954 that seeks to tackle such a menace but has largely failed so far.

In the proposed amendment, punishment for the first offence is imprisonment up to two years and penalty up to Rs 10 lakhs. In the subsequent offences, the limit goes up to five years and Rs 50 lakhs respectively.

“In view of the concerns raised at several quarters on implementation and effectiveness of the existing act, the ministry proposes to amend the law to keep pace with changing times and technology,” an official said in a note accompanying the draft released for public comments.

The amendment comes with a list of 78 diseases that would come under the act’s purview. This means any misleading advertisement with false health claims involving any such diseases can attract the provisions of the law.

Some of the diseases or disorders which commonly generate misleading advertisements are sensitive teeth and pyorrhea; obesity, disorders of menstrual flow, spondilytis, premature ageing, sexual impotence, premature ejaculation and venereal diseases.

Few other common disorders mentioned in the list include fairness skin cream, leucoderma, improvement of size in heights in children; maintenance or improvement of the capacity of the human being for sexual pleasure, stammering, stones in gall-bladder, kidney, bladder; growth of new hair; epileptic fits, psychiatric disorders; diabetes and female diseases.

For some reason, the health ministry also includes small pox in the list even though the disease was eradicated more than four decades ago.

"There should be a process to declare whether a remedy magic or non-magic and equal importance should be given all systems of medicine,” S Srinivasan (Chinu) who heads Low Cost Standard Therapeutics, a Vadodara-based non-profit, told DH.

To that extent, the amendment proposes introduction of a consultation process with the technical bodies associated with Ayurveda, Unani or Siddha system before a remedy is declared magic remedy.