Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 and Rules thereunder  encompass the provisions for prohibition of misleading advertisements and exaggerated claims of drugs and medicinal substances including AYUSH medicines and for the penalty to be imposed on the defaulters.  Central Government notified amendment of the Drugs & Cosmetics Rules, 1945 on 24^th December, 2018 to insert Rule 170 specifically for controlling inappropriate advertisements of Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani medicines. Considering the emerging situation of misleading advertisements, Ministry of AYUSH signed MoU with Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) for two years to undertake monitoring of AYUSH-related advertisements in the print and television media and bring the cases of contravention of legal provisions to the notice of the State Regulatory Authorities for necessary action.  Similarly, Department of Consumers Affairs has set up an online system called GAMA ((Grievances Against Misleading Advertisements) portal for registering public complaints of misleading advertisements of various commodities including AYUSH medicines and allied products.   As a result of monitoring by ASCI,  732 cases of misleading advertisements of AYUSH were reported in 2017-18 and 497 cases in 2018-19.  Out of which 456 cases of violation of Drugs & Magic Remedies Act, 1954 in 2017-18 and 203 cases in 2018-19  have been escalated to the  State Regulators for taking necessary action in accordance with legal provisions. 

 

In order to check the veracity of misleading advertisements of AYUSH medicines,  State/UT Governments are empowered to enforce the legal provisions under Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940, Drugs & Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 and rules there under.  State /UT authorities have been directed for appointing Gazetted Officers under section 8 (1) of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 to  enter, search any premises  or examine or seize any record which contravenes any provisions of the Act related to the alleged misleading or improper advertisements.  States/UTs are reported to have  appointed Gazetted Officers/Nodal Officers for this purpose and actions initiated against the cases of default.  Pharmacovigilance Centres for Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathy Drugs set up in different parts of the country under the Central Scheme of Ministry of AYUSH are mandated to monitor and report misleading advertisements to the respective state authorities.  These pharmacovigilance centres have reported 1127 cases of misleading advertisements of AYUSH from August 2018 to March 2019.

 

This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for AYUSH, Shri Shripad Yesso Naik in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

 

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RJ/SK

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