About
- The Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act 1954, controls drug advertising in India.
- Drugs and Magic Remedies Act 1954 prohibits ads claiming magical properties and makes such ads a cognizable offense.
Definition
- Defines “magic remedy” as any talisman, mantra, amulet, or object claiming miraculous powers to cure diseases in humans or animals.
- Includes devices claiming to influence the structure or function of organs in humans or animals.
Prohibited Advertisements
- Inducing miscarriage or preventing conception in women.
- Improving or maintaining sexual pleasure capacity.
- Correcting menstrual disorders.
- Curing, diagnosing, or preventing diseases or conditions in the included schedule.
Included Schedule Diseases
The originally included schedule contained a list of 54 diseases and conditions:
- Appendicitis
- Arteriosclerosis
- Blindness
- Blood poisoning
- Bright’s disease
- Cancer
- Cataract
- Deafness
- Diabetes
- Diseases and Disorders of Brain
- Diseases and Disorders of the Optical System
- Diseases and Disorders of the uterus
- Disorders of menstrual flow
- Disorders of the nervous system
- Disorders of the prostatic gland
- Dropsy
- Epilepsy
- Female diseases (in general)
- Fevers (in general)
- Fits
- Form and structure of the female bust
- Gallstones, kidney stones, and bladder stones
- Gangrene
- Glaucoma
- Goitre
- Heart diseases
- High/low blood pressure
- Hydrocele
- Hysteria
- Infantile paralysis
- Insanity
- Leprosy
- Leucoderma
- Lockjaw
- Locomotor ataxia
- Lupus
- Nervous debility
- Obesity
- Paralysis
- Plague
- Pleurisy
- Pneumonia
- Rheumatism
- Ruptures
- Sexual impotence
- Smallpox
- Stature of persons
- Sterility in women
- Trachoma
- Tuberculosis
- Tumors
- Typhoid fever
- Ulcers of the gastrointestinal tract
- Venereal diseases include syphilis, gonorrhea, soft chancre, venereal granuloma, and lymph granuloma.
Amendments and Penalties
- The schedule can be changed to include more diseases.
- The maximum penalty is 6 months imprisonment with or without a fine on the first conviction, and up to a year on subsequent convictions.
- Companies found guilty will have all members deemed guilty.
Criticism and Future Amendments
- Law is rarely enforced, and products are freely available.
- Law is considered outdated, with 14 diseases on the list now curable.
- Proposed amendments raise questions about the status of traditional medicine systems like Yoga and Ayurveda.
