Updated on Tuesday, April 24, 2007, 00:00 IST

Beijing, April 24: China has blacklisted eight local television stations for broadcasting advertisements for "illegal" drugs despite a government warning.

China's State Industry and Commerce Administration and state Food and Drug Administration published a blacklist that included television stations of Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Heilongjiang and Hebei provinces, Tianjin Municipality and the Inner Mongolia and Ningxia Hui autonomous regions.

According to the report, the television stations broadcasted advertisements for prescription drugs that exaggerated the effects of certain drugs or used celebrities to guarantee a drug's effectiveness.

They also included health foods that were advertised as medicines without permission from the authorities, Xinhua news agency reported.

The State Industry and Commerce Administration has asked local departments to strengthen supervision of advertisements broadcast by local television stations and punish the offending advertisers. The state food and drug administration ordered its local branches to carry out more inspections of local drug and health food producers. Of late, China has reported a number of scams involving fake drugs which has jeopardised people's health. The government action to ban illegal television advertisements follows mounting complaints.

Bureau Report