# Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954

The Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954, is an Act of the Parliament of India that controls the advertising of drugs in India. It prohibits advertisements of drugs and remedies that claim to have magical properties and makes doing so a cognizable offence.

## Overview

The act defines "magic remedy" as any talisman, mantra, amulet, or other object claimed to have miraculous powers to cure, diagnose, prevent, or mitigate a disease in humans or animals. It also includes such devices claimed to have power to influence structure or function of an organ in humans or animals.
The law prohibits the advertising of drugs and remedies for
* inducing miscarriage or preventing conception in women
* improving or maintaining the capacity for sexual pleasure
* correcting menstrual disorders
* curing, diagnosing, or preventing any disease or condition mentioned in an included schedule
The originally included schedule contained a list of 54 diseases and conditions:
* Appendicitis
* Arteriosclerosis
* Blindness
* Blood poisoning
* Bright's disease
* Cancer
* Cataract
* Deafness
* Diabetes
* Diseases and Disorders of brain
* Diseases and Disorders of the optical system
* Diseases and Disorders of the uterus
* Disorders of menstrual flow
* Disorders of the nervous system
* Disorders of the prostatic gland
* Dropsy
* Epilepsy
* Female diseases (in general)
* Fevers (in general)
* Fits
* Form and structure of the female bust
* Gall stones, kidney stones and bladder stones
* Gangrene
* Glaucoma
* Goitre
* Heart diseases
* High/low blood pressure
* Hydrocele
* Hysteria
* Infantile paralysis
* Insanity
* Leprosy
* Leucoderma
* Lockjaw
* Locomotor ataxia
* Lupus
* Nervous debility
* Obesity
* Paralysis
* Plague
* Pleurisy
* Pneumonia
* Rheumatism
* Ruptures
* Sexual impotence
* Smallpox
* Stature of persons
* Sterility in women
* Trachoma
* Tuberculosis
* Tumours
* Typhoid fever
* Ulcers of the gastro-intestinal tract
* Venereal diseases, including syphilis, gonorrhoea, soft chancre, venereal granuloma and lympho granuloma.
The act stated that the schedule may be changed later to include more diseases for which there are no accepted remedies or for which timely consultation with a registered medical practitioner (as defined under the Indian Medical Degrees Act, 1916 or Indian Medical Councils Act, 1956; includes other state laws too) is required. The act stated that the Central government must make these changes in consultation with the Drugs Technical Advisory Board and Ayurveda and Unani practitioners, if necessary.
The penalty carries a maximum sentence of 6 months imprisonment with or without fine on the first conviction. The term may be up to a year in case of any subsequent conviction. All company members will be deemed guilty if the convicted party is a company.

## Criticism and future amendments

The law is rarely enforced, and several such products are freely available to the public. It is considered severely outdated as 14 of the diseases on the list are now curable, and newer diseases like AIDS are not on the list. Some advertisements of these categories also appear on cable television channels with little repercussions. Proposed amendments to this law have also raised questions regarding the status of traditional medicine systems like Yoga and Ayurveda concerning modern medicine.