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General News of Friday, 26 February 1999

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Media houses advised on food adverts

Takoradi, (Western Region) 25 Feb. '99,

Mr. Benjamin Botchway, Principal Officer of the Food and Drugs Board, today called on media houses in the country not to carry any food and drugs advertisement unless the Board has given prior approval. The advertising agent and the media or organisation which carries unapproved food and drug advertisement would be jointly liable and shall be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the 1992 Food and Drugs Law, he said. Mr. Botchway was speaking at a one-day seminar on Food and Drugs Advertisement in Takoradi aimed at sensitising the public on the use of unproved foods and drugs on the market. He said no advertisement claiming that a drug is "most effective", "drug of choice" or "best tolerated", among others, should not be used unless the claims can be adequately substantiated. Mr. Botchway reminded manufacturers, distributors and pharmacists, who use claims and quotations from scientific literature concerning efficacy, safety and adverse reactions of drugs to indicate the source of the information. He cautioned that labelling of drugs should not contain any statements, which are false, misleading and exaggerated, adding that it should rather contain the name of the product, the forms in which the drug is available, and the name and addresses of the manufacturer and distributors.