The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has released an amendment to its Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisement) Act, 1954. The Act proposes changes to advertisements for drugs sold as “magic remedies”, promoting the growth of new hair, fair skin, sexual performance, brain capacity, and improvement of memory, height and more. In accordance with the amended Act, products to cure 78 diseases cannot be advertised. The list includes diseases like AIDS, cancer, diabetes, deafness and many others. The Ministry said the amendment is being made in order to keep pace with changing time and technology. The draft bill also proposes an expansion of the definition of an advertisement. It says, “any audio or visual publicity, representation, endorsement or pronouncement made by means of light, sound, smoke, gas, print, electronic media, internet or website and includes any notice, circular, label, wrapper, invoice, banner, poster or such other documents.
Failure to adhere to the rules of the Act might lead to a jail term of 2 years or a fine of up to Rs.10 lakhs for the first time. A repeat offender could land up with imprisonment for 5 years, or a fine of up to Rs. 50 lakhs. The ministry will be taking suggestions and objections from the public for the next 45 days, starting 3rd February.
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