81 of 59 and No.
K. Daphtary, Solicitor General of India, H. N. Sanyal, Additional Solicitor General of India, B. R. L. Iyengar, R. Dhebar and T. M. Sen, for respondents Nos.
M. Munshi, N. C. Chatterjee, L. R. Das Gupta, G. K. Munshi, D. N. Mukherjee and R. Gopalakrishnan, for the petitioners.
11 in Petn.
1 to 10 in Petn.
81 of 59 , Nos.
The British Medical Association had in a book entitled Secret Remedies What they companyt and companytain exposed ruthlessly the harmful effects of such remedies.
Gopalakrishnan, for the intervener.
Advertisement relating to the treatment of venereal diseases are governed by the Venereal Diseases Act of 1917 .
As a result of these two enactments the State Governments were given the responsibility of companytrolling the manufacture of drugs and pharmaceuticals and their sales through qualified personnel and the Central Government was given the companytrol on quality of drugs and pharmaceuticals imported into the companyntry.
In 1941, The Pharmacy and Medicine Act, 1941 4 and 5 Geo.
This placed restrictions on advertisements relating to treatment for venereal diseases.
It is number necessary to refer to the recommendations of the Bhatia Committee or the Press Enquiry Committee because they were published in June and July 1954 respectively.
81, 62, 63 3 of 1959.
On December 4, 1958, the Drugs Controller, Delhi, intimated to the petitioners that the provisions of s. 3 of the Act had been companytravened by them and called upon them to recall their products sent to Bombay and other States.
63 of 59 .
Wyndham E.B. Lloyd in his book Hundred years of medicine published in 1936 wrote about the outstanding evils which arise from the use of secret remedies and numbertrums.
VI Ch.
21 was passed in England.
On December 4, 1958, the Drugs Controller, Delhi State, stopped the sale of forty of their products set out in the petition.
In England as far back as 1889, an Act called the Indecent Advertisements Act 52 and 53 Viet.
62 of 59 , No.
Similarly objections were taken by the Drugs Controllers of other States to various advertisements in regard to medicines and drugs prepared by the petitioners.
1 to 3 in Petn.
In the United Kingdom, advertisements of drugs or treatment for these diseases are governed by the Cancer Act of 1939 and the Pharmacy and Medi.
The Bhatia Committee issued a Questionnaire to various organisations and witnesses.
Subsequently, objection was taken by the Drugs Controller to the advertisements in regard to other drugs.
In 1948 The Pharmacy Act was passed to regulate the provisions of pharmacy.
It also drew attention to the dangers of advertisements in regard to them and what the British Medical Association had said about them.
The petitioners in Writ Petition No.
3 of 59 .
N. Dikshit and C. P. Lal, for respondent No.
63 and 3 of 59 and Nos.
1 in Petns.
In 1917 the Venereal Diseases Act 7 and 8 Geo.
The Chopra Committee Report dealt with the popularity of the patent and proprietary medicines in the following words The pride of place must be accorded to ingenious propaganda clever and attractive dissemination of their supposed virtues and wide and alluring advertisements.
ORIGINAL JURISDICTION Petition Nos.
The Judgment of the companyrt was delivered by KAPUR, J. These petitions under Art.
As provided in its preamble it was An Act to companytrol the advertisement of drugs in certain cases, to prohibit the advertisement for certain purposes of remedies alleged to possess magic qualities and to provide for matters companynected therewith.
81 of 1959, the Hamdard Dawakhana Wakf and another, alleged that soon after the Act came into force they experienced difficulty in the matter of publicity for their products and various objections were raised by the authorities in regard to their advertisements.
CI 1 12 /52 dated February 14, 1953, and between March 1953, and end of that year it examined a large number of witnesses in different towns of India some of whom represented chemists and druggists, some were leading medical practitioners and some were State Ministers for Health.
The Act passed on April 30, 1954, came into force on April 1, 1955, along with the rules made thereunder.
There were a large number of objectionable advertisements in the Press in regard to patent medicines which were after the Act came into force pointed out by the Press Commission Report but it cannot be said that this fact was unknown to Parliament as this Committee also examined a number of witnesses.
2 and 3 in Petn.
As a result of the Chopra Committee Report the Drugs act, was passed in 1940.
Evidence was led before the Chopra Committee deprecating the increasing sale of proprietary medicines particularly those with secret formulae as such drugs were positively harmful and were a serious and increasing menace.
Petition under Art.
There were advertisements and pamphlets issued in companynection with these medicines which showed fraudulent practices and extravagant claims for these medicines.
The love of mystery and secrecy inherent in human nature, the natural disinclination and shyness to disclose details of ones illness especially those involving moral turpitude, the peculiar temperament of the people who, high and low, rich and poor, demand something in a bottle for the treatment of every ailment and poverty of the people who cannot afford to pay the doctors bills or the high prices current for dispensed medicines, have all been enlarged upon as tending to self diagnosis and self medication by patent and proprietary medicines.
cines Act of 1941.
The Bhatia Committee was set up in pursuance to a resolution No.
The Indian Medical Association had suggested to this Press Committee which was presided over by the late Mr. Justice Rajadhyaksha the barring of advertisements of medicines which claim to cure or alleviate any of the following diseases Cancer, Brights disease, Cataract, Diabetes, Epilepsy, Glaucoma, Locomotor ataxia, Paralysis, Tuberculosis.
18 was passed to suppress indecent advertisements in which advertisements relating to syphilis, gonorrhoea, nervous debility or other companyplaints or infirmity arising from intercourse was prohibited.
The Chopra Committee Report had also made a recommendation for a strict measure of companytrol over proprietary medicines.
The companyncil on Pharmacy and Chemistry of American Medical Association had also given its opinion on the harmful effects of indiscriminate self medication by the public and the grave danger which ensued from such misdirected and inadequate treatment, and the failure to recognise seriousness of the disease only when it was too late.
