Home>News Center>China
       
 

Some medical ads full of lies: delegates
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-03-11 09:34

BEIJING (Reuters) - China should ban all medical advertising to protect public health, members of parliament were quoted by state media as saying on Friday, accusing most ads of "cheating and misleading" consumers.

Advertisements promising cures for everything from hemorrhoids to balding are plastered all over Chinese cities, on the sides of buses, inside taxis, in newspapers and even crudely glued to lamp posts.

"Nowadays medical advertisements about hospitals and medicines are flooding the Chinese media, and some of them are full of appalling lies," Xinhua news agency quoted Kang Jiaoyang, member of a parliamentary advisory body, as saying.

Some adverts promised "miraculous cures" for cancer and AIDS, added Wu Liying, a delegate from the northeastern province of Liaoning.

"Falling for these lies, many patients have suffered from delayed treatment and even lost their lives," said Wu, a health official.

Another delegate said each year 2.5 million people in China took the wrong medication because of misleading advertising.

Medical care in China was provided free of charge during the Communist heyday, but since the country began reforming its economy in the late 1970s, the sector has become increasingly commercialized and many cannot afford to see a doctor.

Hospitals and pharmaceutical companies collaborate to push their drugs, whose prescription may not be totally appropriate, said delegate Huang Taikang.

"The hospitals and pharmaceutical companies are paying big money for publication and broadcast of cheating ads, while some immoral media organizations simply turn a blind eye to the fake information for the pursuit of profits," Huang said.

The nearly 3,000 delegates to the largely ceremonial National People's Congress are meeting for their 10-day annual session to discuss and approve policies set in place by the government.



Tourists on Tian'anmen Square
Delegates after NPC meeting
Blizzard hits Qiqihar
  Today's Top News     Top China News
 

Putin's visit to highlight oil issue, joint war game

 

   
 

WSJ: Lobbyists target Chinese legislators

 

   
 

Japan FM's remarks on Taiwan condemned

 

   
 

Cash for ports to increase capacity

 

   
 

Nation confident on 2020 innovation target

 

   
 

More people sentenced for IPR infringement

 

   
  China vows to spur technology development
   
  Japan court rejects claims of Chinese victims
   
  Putin's visit to highlight oil issue, joint war game
   
  Sandstorm hits North China over weekend
   
  Officials to be liable for bad investment
   
  Migrant workers' families need aid
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
Manufacturers, Exporters, Wholesalers - Global trade starts here.
Advertisement