Guest guest Posted July 31, 2002 Report Share Posted July 31, 2002 Below is an article from Xinhua about a crackdown by the Chinese Gov't on supplements cut with pharmaceutical ingredients. Stephen Morrissey Illegal slimming pills, fake Viagra face crackdown Xinhuanet 2002-07-30 00:13:59 BEIJING, July 30 (Xinhuanet) -- China has launched a nationwide crackdown on illegal practices among health supplement makers like adding pharmaceutical substances to slimming pills or exaggerating their function. Tonic foods designed to help weight loss, increase vigor, improve sexual performance, promote viability or make people look beautiful would be major items for investigation, the Ministry of Health announced Tuesday. Tonic foods are defined in China as those taken by specific groups of people to improve bodily functions, but not for therapeutic purposes. China has seen a boom in pro-health supplements in recent decades along with rapid improvements in average living standards and public awareness of health promotion. Aiming to regulate the market, the government introduced regulations on tonic foods in 1996, which stipulated the monitoring of products from application for health authority approval, to production, retailing and advertising. Despite that, many illegal practices by producers and retailershad made the enormously-profitable market rather chaotic, according to ministry officials. Some firms exaggerated the health-promotion functions of their products through highly-colored advertising or by altering the instructions and labels to promote buying, said Wang Jianrong, an official with the ministry's department of law and supervision. Some ignored strict rules and added pharmaceutical substances, which might help the product meet customer demands for faster and obvious results, but are often potentially dangerous. Out of 13 brands of tonic food banned by the ministry, eight are diet capsules or pills containing fenfluramine, which used to be a component of slimming drugs but was outlawed in 1997 after itwas linked to heart valve damage. Four other " nutritious drinks " or " vigor pills " were found to contain sildenafil citrate, the major component of the anti-impotence drug Viagra. " Illegal activities have not only seriously misled customers, but also damaged the reputation of the whole industry, " said Wang. Departments of public health and market management will pay special attention to exaggerated advertising from now on. Businesses which had altered their products' instructions and labels would have to correct them by the end of September, otherwise face closure, Wang said. Enditem Chinese Herbal Medicine, a voluntary organization of licensed healthcare practitioners, matriculated students and postgraduate academics specializing in Chinese Herbal Medicine, provides a variety of professional services, including board approved online continuing education. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 31, 2002 Report Share Posted July 31, 2002 I was very happy to see this. Thanks for sharing it with the CHA, Stephen. On Wednesday, July 31, 2002, at 09:17 AM, stephen wrote: > Below is an article from Xinhua about a crackdown by the Chinese Gov't > on > supplements cut with pharmaceutical ingredients. > > Stephen Morrissey > > > > Illegal slimming pills, fake Viagra face crackdown > Xinhuanet 2002-07-30 00:13:59 > > BEIJING, July 30 (Xinhuanet) -- China has launched a nationwide > crackdown > on illegal practices among health supplement makers like adding > pharmaceutical substances to slimming pills or exaggerating their > function. > > Tonic foods designed to help weight loss, increase vigor, improve > sexual > performance, promote viability or make people look beautiful would be > major > items for investigation, the Ministry of Health announced Tuesday. > > Tonic foods are defined in China as those taken by specific groups of > people to improve bodily functions, but not for therapeutic purposes. > > China has seen a boom in pro-health supplements in recent decades > along > with rapid improvements in average living standards and public > awareness of > health promotion. > > Aiming to regulate the market, the government introduced regulations > on > tonic foods in 1996, which stipulated the monitoring of products from > application for health authority approval, to production, retailing and > advertising. > > Despite that, many illegal practices by producers and retailershad > made > the enormously-profitable market rather chaotic, according to ministry > officials. > > Some firms exaggerated the health-promotion functions of their > products > through highly-colored advertising or by altering the instructions and > labels to promote buying, said Wang Jianrong, an official with the > ministry's department of law and supervision. > > Some ignored strict rules and added pharmaceutical substances, which > might > help the product meet customer demands for faster and obvious results, > but > are often potentially dangerous. > > Out of 13 brands of tonic food banned by the ministry, eight are diet > capsules or pills containing fenfluramine, which used to be a component > of > slimming drugs but was outlawed in 1997 after itwas linked to heart > valve > damage. > > Four other " nutritious drinks " or " vigor pills " were found to contain > sildenafil citrate, the major component of the anti-impotence drug > Viagra. > > " Illegal activities have not only seriously misled customers, but also > damaged the reputation of the whole industry, " said Wang. > > Departments of public health and market management will pay special > attention to exaggerated advertising from now on. > > Businesses which had altered their products' instructions and labels > would > have to correct them by the end of September, otherwise face closure, > Wang > said. Enditem > > > > Chinese Herbal Medicine, a voluntary organization of licensed > healthcare > practitioners, matriculated students and postgraduate academics > specializing > in Chinese Herbal Medicine, provides a variety of professional services, > including board approved online continuing education. > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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