Is the Canadian public currently protected against misleading advertising claims?
These examples point to a widespread problem of inadequate enforcement of the law prohibiting deception in advertisements for health products. Lack of enforcement leads to misleading and potentially hazardous messages about medical treatments reaching the Canadian public, without any mechanism in place to ensure swift removal of offending advertising campaigns or correction of misleading information. As described above, these violations include advertising of preventatives and treatments for Schedule A diseases. The most recent review of the adequacy of enforcement of over-the- counter drug advertising regulations was carried out by Health Canada in 1993, and published in a 1994 report. Two-thirds of sampled magazine ads failed to comply with the law. ‘Minor’ violations included exaggerations of benefits and inadequate risk information, in other words misleading and inaccurate information about the products’ characteristics and health effects; major violations were not defined. The 199
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