China blacklists 74 herbal web sites

CHINA's traditional medicine watchdog has blacklisted 74 websites suspected of selling fake cures online.

The sites have been flogging the cures under the banner of Traditional Chinese medicine, but the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicines said the cures were monkey balls.

"During the past year, following reports from citizens and investigations by our administration, we have discovered a lot of web sites selling fake herbal medicines," the Administration said.

The watchdog has published a list of the sites and suggested that members of the public do not use them.  However hacks visiting the sites have already found that they have disappeared, suggesting that the listing was after-the-fact enforcement.

The administration said that some of the sites peddling fake herbal potions were claiming to be affiliated with real institutes such as the China Research Centre for Chinese Medicine.

It pointed out that only ten companies have been licensed to sell over-the-counter traditional Chinese medicines on the Internet.

Apparently the sites were doing a roaring trade selling quack cures to Americans.  More than a billion dollars worth of the stuff had been shipped across the Pacific, he said.

Some of them are more dangerous than drinking Chinese milk. µ

L'INQ
AP