China will intensify its fight against advertisements for fake or scientifically unproven medical treatments, drugs, health foods, cosmetics and beauty services, says a government document.

Such advertisements exaggerate the function and effects of the products.

Zhou Bohua, director of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, said at a conference yesterday that 11 government departments would continue working together to prevent such ads from hitting the market or banning them.

These departments have worked out a priority list for this year. The document said fields prone to getting such ads would be under strict monitoring, with the provincial advertisement inspection departments intensifying efforts to find and ban them. But it didn't say what the fields were.

The document urged media administrations to set up and implement a mechanism that would identify media channels responsible of carrying such ads.

The cooperation system to fight advertising of fake products was set up in April 2005, under which television and newspaper administrations, food and drug supervisors, the ministries of health, information industry and public security, and a few other authorities meet regularly.

"Thanks to more than a year's effort, the ad market is getting orderly now," Zhou said.

The authorities dealt with 16,600 cases of false advertising in 2006, a slight increase over the previous year.

But the total number of such cases dropped from 67,700 to 61,800.

(China Daily January 31, 2007)