Up to five-year jail, Rs50L fine for fair skin, hair growth magic cure ads

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 7

People promising magic remedies for enhanced sexual capacity, fair skin, hair growth, changed foetal sex among other unnatural solutions could face jail from two to five years and fine raging from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 50 lakh, if government-proposed amendments to existing laws are approved by Parliament.

In the first step to check the proliferation of misleading ads of drugs in both allopathic and AYUSH (Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha) systems, the Ministry of Health this week drafted sweeping amendments to the Drugs and Magic Remedies Objectionable Advertisements Act, 1954. Noting that the draft amendment law had been framed “to keep pace with the changing times and technology and in view of the concerns raised at several quarters on the implementation and effectiveness of the existing legislation”, the government has invited public suggestions within 45 days of the notification of the draft amendments on February 3.

The new draft law expands on the list of diseases and disorders covered under provisions of the mother law. The original provision prohibits advertisement of drugs and magic remedies for treatment of 54 diseases and disorders. The proposed draft law raises the number of diseases to be covered under the provision to 78.

Violation of the law is proposed to invite — upon first conviction — imprisonment which may extend up to two years and fine up to Rs 10 lakh and upon subsequent conviction with jail up to five years and fine up to Rs 50 lakh.

Under the existing law, the first conviction is punishable with jail up to six months and a subsequent offence with jail up to one year and unspecified fine in both cases. It has failed to check fake ads.

New conditions for which misleading advertisements of magic cures and drugs are proposed to be banned include AIDS, change in hair colour and hair growth, change in sex of the foetus, fairness of the skin, form and structure of the breast, improvement of memory, improvement of size and shape of a sexual organ, improvement in strength of natural teeth, encephalitis, genetic disorders, power to rejuvenate, maintenance or improvement of human capacity for sexual pleasure, premature ageing and premature graying of the hair.

Other conditions covered by the new list include bronchial asthma, congenital malformations and improvement in vision.

The critical feature of the Drugs and Magic remedies Objectionable Advertisements Amendment Bill 2020 is a new provision that covers fake advertisements related to both allopathic and AYUSH (Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani) drugs. The original law did not cover misleading magic remedies promised under the AYUSH system.

The new law redefines advertisement to mean “any audio or video 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 or poster”.

The new definition of advertisement is meant to prevent misleading claims on magic cures from spanning all kinds of new media spaces - from cable and TV to YouTube, Facebook, WhatsApp and other social media platforms as well.

Centre drafts amendments to Act

• The draft law raises number of diseases covered under the provision of the Drugs and Magic Remedies Objectionable Advertisements Act, 1954, from 54 to 78
• Upon first conviction, it proposes jail up to two years and fine up to Rs10 lakh and upon subsequent conviction jail up to five years and fine up to Rs50 lakh
• New conditions proposed to be banned include AIDS, fair skin, change in hair colour, change in sex of the foetus, structure of the breast, improvement of memory, etc

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.