● The essential difference between health care products and medicines lies in whether they are aimed at treating diseases. According to Article 100 of the Drug Administration Law, drugs refer to substances that are used to prevent, treat and diagnose human diseases, purposefully regulate human physiological functions and specify indications or functional indications, usage and dosage, including Chinese herbal medicines, Chinese herbal pieces, Chinese patent medicines, chemical raw materials and their preparations, antibiotics, biochemical drugs, radioactive drugs, serum, vaccines, blood products and diagnostic drugs.
● If the supervision and law enforcement are weak, it will make it more difficult for consumers to protect their rights. If some incidents are not openly fermented, the power of individual consumers is very weak. If the amount involved is not very large, victims often give up their rights protection.
● Health care products are not omnipotent, but "three drugs are toxic". Health care products of traditional Chinese medicine mainly improve human functions by correcting deviations. Therefore, under the condition of physical and mental health, taking health care products by mistake is likely to have the opposite effect.
□ Our reporter Du Xiao
□ Our intern Ye Ziyue
After the public exposure of the "Quanjian Incident" which attracted much attention, state administration of traditional chinese medicine held a meeting to conduct a special study on rectifying the chaos of health care services under the banner of traditional Chinese medicine and ensuring people’s health.
The meeting requested that the competent departments of traditional Chinese medicine at all levels should carry out comprehensive investigation and sorting out the issues of publishing medical advertisements, training, health care services and products of traditional Chinese medicine, and deal with the illegal acts found strictly and promptly with relevant departments, and never allow any institution or personnel to commit illegal acts in the name of traditional Chinese medicine, which will endanger people’s lives and damage the image of traditional Chinese medicine.
In recent years, there are many health care services and products under the banner of traditional Chinese medicine, and there are also many problems. The "Legal Daily" reporter interviewed this.
Diversification of health care products marketing
Exaggerated propaganda is difficult to distinguish between true and false.
In addition to public promotion in the media, the marketing behavior of health care products under the banner of traditional Chinese medicine is also common in people’s daily life.
Luo Baocheng (a pseudonym), a student at Beihang University, was influenced by the marketing and promotion of health care products under the name of traditional Chinese medicine.
Judging from the group chat records of family relatives on WeChat that Luo Baocheng showed to reporters, some people posted advertising articles about a fruit juice product on WeChat.
According to Luo Baocheng, one of his relatives first came into contact with this product, claiming that this product was developed based on the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, "as small as corns and as big as cancer, it can be cured". Several relatives of Luo Baocheng bought related products and sold them to more relatives and friends.
After contact with such products, some relatives threatened that "western medicine is deceptive, and many patients delayed treatment and even lost their lives because they trusted western medicine".
Luo Baocheng is very helpless, "the so-called ‘ Powder to the extreme is black ’ Such extreme remarks will affect the reputation of Chinese medicine. "
He showed the reporter a bottle of the above-mentioned fruit juice products given by relatives for free. The reporter saw that the product was packaged in a can, which was small in size. The bottle was green on a black background with pictures of fruits printed on it.
After the reporter opened the lid and tried it, he found that the liquid was sour, and it would return to a medicinal taste similar to Huoxiang Zhengqi Liquid after entering the throat.
"I wanted to drink this thing as a drink, but I didn’t expect it to be so sour. However, the relatives who have drunk have not had any adverse reactions for the time being, probably because they have done nothing. However, it should not be true that the advertisement can cure so many diseases. " Luo Baocheng said.
After logging into the official website homepage of this product, the reporter found that this product is marked as "National Team Athletes’ Preparation Support Product", and there are also related news information.
Xin Chen (a pseudonym), a citizen of Nantong City, Jiangsu Province, also told reporters that some Wechat business people like to sell products under the banner of traditional Chinese medicine, which makes it difficult to distinguish between true and false.
"I have seen in the circle of friends ‘ Underwear for Principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine ’ , can regulate metabolism ‘ Traditional Chinese medicine pack for losing weight ’ Wait. " Xin Chen said.
There is no way to complain when you encounter problems.
Public psychology has been used repeatedly.
Before the "Quanjian incident", some health care services and products under the banner of traditional Chinese medicine exposed many problems.
In 2017, in response to the uproar of "Liu Hongbin, a wonderful doctor", state administration of traditional chinese medicine responded that "Liu Hongbin" in the false medical advertisement incident did not have the qualification of a Chinese medicine doctor, did not work in a Chinese medicine medical institution, nor was it the alleged "Miao doctor’s successor", and the "Chinese Medicine Association" mentioned in the advertisement did not exist in the relevant Chinese medicine social groups. Liu Hongbin’s actions violated the Advertising Law and the Notice of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television on Further Strengthening the Management of Medical and Health Programs and Medical Advertisements.
Similar to Liu Hongbin, there are Li Moumou and Wang Moumou.
According to relevant media reports, in different programs, Li Moumou not only holds the title of chairman of Chinese Medical Association and national expert of prescription, but also holds the titles of famous diabetes medical expert, famous traditional Chinese medicine doctor, founder of diabetes DCR therapy and member of Chinese medicine research committee. The "products" he promoted are also diverse, including gymnosperms, which are claimed to be dozens of times stronger than Cordyceps sinensis; There is a "DCR metabolic repair therapy" that can regulate diabetes without insulin and hypoglycemic drugs; There is a "natto cell regeneration therapy" that can treat cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases; There is even a "three-leaf tea" that can reduce your stomach. Wang Moumou is also a spokesperson for false medical advertisements on TV, claiming that he is an expert of the Chinese Medicine Association and the sixth generation descendant of the Chinese medicine family in many identities.
The reporter noted that there are many online complaints about this kind. For example, some netizens broke the news that a product called "transdermal patch of Chinese medicine in a certain pharmaceutical industry" claimed that it did not take injections or medicine, and it was specially applied to infants and young children.
The netizen said: "The cost of a child’s application is about 200 yuan every day. My child received this so-called green therapy after getting sick, from a cold to severe pneumonia, and finally went to the hospital for rescue."
Netizens also found that this drug has no record in the drug supervision department and belongs to three no health care products. After complaining, the reply was "A certain Chinese medicine transdermal patch has relevant national documents, which is legal".
"A cure for all diseases", "A successful case of someone being reborn as a Jedi at a certain time and place" and "You don’t need to go to the hospital to cure the disease at home" … … Why do these exaggerated statements always attract consumers?
Yang Kai (pseudonym), a major in applied psychology at Beijing Normal University, told reporters: "Most Chinese people are full of awe of Chinese medicine. Bad businesses often use this to attract audiences with the gimmicks of traditional Chinese medicine. Coupled with the professionalism of medicine, non-professionals do not understand medical treatment, so it is easy to go to the hospital in a hurry. "
Some public cases show that the false marketing behavior of health care products under the banner of traditional Chinese medicine is often aimed at middle-aged and elderly people. Yang Kai believes: "With the growth of age, the middle-aged and elderly people are increasingly worried about physical weakness. Bad businesses have seized the psychological weakness of middle-aged and elderly people and wantonly boasted about the miraculous effects of their products. "
"At the same time, some people’s greed for cheap also gives bad businesses an opportunity." Yang Kai believes that in addition to marketing under the guise of Chinese medicine, some businesses also promote it in a way similar to pyramid schemes, and at the first few presentations, they attract people by giving away daily necessities for free, and carry out the activity of "pulling people’s heads and doubling gifts", which will attract many people who are greedy for cheap.
Health care products are different in nature.
The key is to treat diseases.
According to Wang Yue, a professor at Peking University Health Law Research Center, the title of "health products" is problematic, and health food is its true attribute. In some developed countries, health food is called Functional Food, which means functional food.
"Some people mentioned that health care products should be banned, which is also wrong. Because health care products exist internationally, they are essentially different from medicines and can never replace medicines. " Wang Yue said.
Deng Yong, an associate professor of medical and health law in the Faculty of Law of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, believes that the essential difference between health care products and drugs lies in whether they are aimed at treating diseases. According to Article 100 of the Drug Administration Law, drugs refer to substances that are used to prevent, treat and diagnose human diseases, purposefully regulate human physiological functions and specify indications or functional indications, usage and dosage, including Chinese herbal medicines, Chinese herbal pieces, Chinese patent medicines, chemical raw materials and their preparations, antibiotics, biochemical drugs, radioactive drugs, serum, vaccines, blood products and diagnostic drugs.
"Health products are a popular term for health food. According to article 3.1 of GB16740-97 General Standard for Health (Functional) Food, health (Functional) food is a kind of food, which has the commonness of general food, can regulate the function of human body, and is suitable for specific people to eat, but not for the purpose of treating diseases. Drugs should be regulated by laws such as the Drug Administration Law, and health products should be regulated by laws such as the Food Safety Law. " Deng Yong analyzed the reporter.
In Wang Yue’s view, at present, the boundary between health care products and drugs in China is blurred, which makes some promotion of health care products by mass media easy to mislead consumers. Consumers can analyze the formality of business advertisements from their word descriptions. Health care products are only a special kind of food. Once the words "alternative medicine" and "curative effect" appear in the propaganda caliber of health care products, it shows that this business is dishonest and suspected of false propaganda, and people should not consider consuming its products.
Deng Yong explained to reporters that real Chinese medicine health care products should have the following characteristics: First, in terms of actual effect, all kinds of raw materials and final products of Chinese medicine health care products must meet the requirements of food hygiene, and must not cause acute, subacute or chronic harm to human body. Secondly, in terms of form, the composition and dosage of real Chinese medicine health care products must have scientific basis and clear functional components. If the functional components cannot be clearly defined under the existing technical conditions, the names of the main raw materials related to health care functions should be determined. Finally, the functions and components of traditional Chinese medicine health care products should be consistent with the labels and instructions.