14 DAY TRIAL // Following an ample scandal that started a few weeks ago, Chinese authorities have recently announced that they will ban fake medical experts and actors from performing the roles of physicians on TV from now on, in hopes of getting their inferior-quality medications sold to the general public. An Internet-led investigation has revealed over the past few days that a dozen people appearing in various drug ads throughout the country were “non-accredited personnel,” and that they had no license to practice medicine. China's advertising space is notoriously full of crooks, even though authorities have been pledging to tighten regulations for a long time.
State media reported on Monday that the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), China's fair trade watchdog, was considering severe punishments for those misleading the population, especially taking into account that, over the past two years, the number of drug- and food-related scandals had multiplied, culminating with the tainted milk scandal, which killed six infants and sickened an additional 300,000.
In the aftermath of the current discoveries, countless universities and hospitals that were cited in the commercials took the first opportunities they had to cut themselves loose from the names of the crooks, saying that they didn't endorse anyone.
For now on, officials in Beijing maintain, only authorized doctors will be allowed to appear on TV and promote medicine. Most of the time, the drugs that are being advertised are nothing more than placebos, which have no therapeutic value, but can, on the contrary, sicken a patient even further. Not long ago, two people died in China on account of consuming a false diabetes medication that put an end to their lives. The manufacturers of the medicine are currently prosecuted, as they have sold thousands of packs within that specific province.
If manufacturers and televisions do not respect the new regulations, authorities will apply drastic measures to ensure that they do, ranging from withdrawing the clip from the air to criminally prosecuting all those involved in making the ad public. Hopefully, this will curve the downward tendency that the country has of trusting anyone who comes on the screen and advertises for something.