Following the end of July 2007 specifically to rectify the “sex drugs” and other undesirable advertising issued “on further strengthening the broadcast of radio and television advertising management notice”, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television on September 26 again strictly banned eight types of advertising and medical information about drugs, medical, health products, television shopping programs. The eight types of prohibited advertisements and programs are: incomplete licenses and unauthorized alteration of the approved content; medical patients, experts, celebrities as proof; all guaranteed efficacy, publicity cure rate; treatment of sexual diseases, diseases of the reproductive system; sex drugs, sexual health products and other vulgar content, indecent images of adult products advertising; sex drugs, sexual health products, drugs and medical institutions for the treatment of diseases of the reproductive system As the title of the column, theater; by drugs, health care products production, distribution enterprises and medical institutions to produce or provide a variety of medical, health information service programs; containing sexually suggestive, sexually provocative and other undesirable language and images of female breast enlargement, body-shaping underwear advertising. The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television pointed out that illegal “sex drug” advertisements and other undesirable advertisements are extremely harmful to society, seriously misleading consumers, damaging the health of the people, polluting the social environment, corrupting the social atmosphere, and directly affecting the social credibility of radio and television, although the ban imposed by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television is only a mending action, but “Late justice is better than not coming”. In fact, these years cloaked in professional sermons of inaccurate medical advertising in the country has been all over the place. Whenever I see these inaccurate advertisements, I can’t help but feel angry. These advertisements are indeed “full of absurdities, a handful of bitter tears” – the absurdities are deceptive and misleading advertisements; the bitter ones are the audiences who have been cheated and misled by money and illness. Some unscrupulous medical institutions (including many medical institutions with legal practice) in the radio and television programs, implied guarantee cure content, exaggerate the effectiveness of treatment, the use of experts, the patient’s name to prove (common is to sing a double-act type of doctor-patient consultation question-and-answer program), misleading patients; some TV shopping companies in the TV shopping programs exaggerate the function of the product, the use of unscientific efficacy Some TV shopping companies exaggerate the functions of their products in TV shopping programs and use unscientific claims of efficacy to guarantee the effectiveness of use. All of these problems harm the legitimate rights and interests of patients. In fact, these scams all have something in common: they take advantage of patients’ psychological weaknesses. Let’s take a look at the following advertising example: The multifunctional treatment machine is a special treatment instrument for cervical spondylosis, lumbar spondylosis, knee arthropathy, frozen shoulder and other bone and joint diseases, which adopts “American ionization technology” and combines traditional treatment methods such as heat therapy, magnetic therapy and massage. In addition to the good treatment effect on rheumatic cervical spondylosis, lumbar spondylosis, knee arthropathy, frozen shoulder and other bone and joint diseases, it also has a unique treatment effect on the above diseases caused by “osteophytes”, which ionizes and decomposes the osteophytes before calcification, completely eliminates the bone spurs and achieves the treatment effect from the root and the root. This is a medical advertisement that one of my outpatients brought to me for consultation some time ago, and he asked me if this treatment machine was so divine or not. If we look at this advertisement alone, it is very compelling to the average consumer. Let’s take a look at the words used in it – “American ionization technology”, “ionizes and breaks down pre-calcified bone growths”, “completely eliminates bone spurs “, if you don’t know medicine, you will really be convinced by some such bluff advertising words. After reading this medical advertisement, I couldn’t help but laugh and say to my patients: This stuff is really credulous! Why do you say it’s a lie? From a medical professional’s point of view, this so-called special treatment instrument’s effect of “completely eliminating bone spurs” is simply an “impossible task”. First of all, the so-called “bone spur” refers to the medical term “osteophytes”, which is a manifestation of degenerative changes in the bones and joints, and is a product of the local “aging” of the human body. Medical professionals are well aware that the only means to completely eliminate bone spurs in humans is surgical excision, and any non-surgical conservative treatment cannot effectively remove bone spurs. The “ionization of pre-calcified osteophytes” is even more ridiculous – osteophytes are originally the product of calcification, what is the “pre-calcified osteophytes”? One of the components of bone is calcium salts, there is not yet calcified hyperplastic bone? A while ago, our hurdles world champion, Liu Xiang, had to go to the U.S. to have a surgical operation to remove the hyperplastic bone spur because of the long-term strain and the pain caused by the osteophytes in the Achilles tendon, if this treatment instrument could really eliminate the bone spur completely, Liu Xiang would not have to fly to the U.S. to receive the operation. After listening to my explanation, my patient thanked me repeatedly and was glad that he had consulted me on this matter, otherwise he would have been fooled. In fact, this example is just one of the many false medical advertisements that I have come across. Many patients who used the products in the false medical advertisements were actually ineffective or minor, at most they lost their money, but what was more distressing to the doctors was the delay in the timely treatment of the disease. In my clinical work, I have seen many cases of patients who were misled by false medical advertisements and delayed their illnesses. Although the relevant departments have carried out crackdowns on such false medical advertisements, but the road is one foot high and the devil is one ten foot high. In recent years, false medical advertisements have also been advancing with the times and have shifted their positions from radio and television media to the Internet, which has become more extensive and more difficult to regulate. I would like to advise you that it is best to consult a doctor’s professional opinion before purchasing such products, if conditions permit, it is safer to go to a regular public hospital for treatment (not that non-public hospitals can’t be trusted, just a mixed bag, if you are not an insider doctor it is difficult to identify the advantages and disadvantages).