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Drugs
and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954
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An
Act to control the advertisements of drugs in certain cases, to prohibit the
advertisement for certain purposes of remedies alleged to possess magic
qualities and to provide for matters connected therewith.
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Citation
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Territorial
extent
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Date
commenced
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1 April 1955
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Legislative
history
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Bill
published on
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30 April 1954
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Status: In force
The Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable
Advertisements) Act, 1954 is an Act
of the Parliament of India which controls advertising
of drugs in India.
It prohibits advertisements of drugs and remedies that claim to have magical
properties, and makes doing so a cognizable offence.
Overview
The act defines "magic
remedy" as any talisman, mantra, amulet or any other object, which is claimed to have miraculous
powers to cure, diagnose, prevent or mitigate a disease in humans or animal. It
also includes such devices that are claimed to have power to influence
structure or function of an organ in humans or animals.[1]
The law prohibits advertising of
drugs and remedies for
- inducing miscarriage or preventing conception in women
- improving or maintaining the capacity for sexual pleasure
- correction of menstrual disorders
- curing, diagnosing or preventing any disease or condition mentioned in an included schedule[1]
The original 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
- Gall stones, 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
- Tumours
- Typhoid fever
- Ulcers of the gastro-intestinal tract
- Venereal diseases, including syphilis, gonorrhoea, soft chancre, venereal granuloma and lympho granuloma.
The act stated that the schedule may
be changed later to include more diseases for which there are no accepted
remedies or for which timely consultation with a registered medical
practitioner (as defined under Indian Medical Degrees Act, 1916 or Indian
Medical Councils Act, 1956; includes other state laws too) is required. The act
stated that these changes must made it consultation with the Drugs Technical
Advisory Board, and Ayurveda and Unani practitioners, if deemed as necessary by the Central
government.[1]
The penalty carries a maximum
sentence of 6 months imprisonment with or without fine on first conviction. In
case of any subsequent conviction, the term may be up to a year. If the
convicted party is a company, all members of the company will be deemed guilty.[1]
Criticism
and future amendments
The law is
rarely enforced and several such products are freely available to the public.[3] The law is considered severely
outdated as 14 of the diseases in the list are now curable, and newer diseases
like AIDS are not on the list.[4] Some advertisements of these
categories are also known to appear on cable television channels without much
repurcussions.[5] Proposed amendments to this law has
also raised questions regarding the status of traditional medicine systems like
Yoga and Ayurveda with respect to modern medicine
