The Ghanaian media has been forewarned; the Food and Drugs Authority is hot on your heels for flouting its rules. The authority has issued a warning to radio and television stations in the country that it will prosecute them for airing adverts without its approval. The authority said it had to take the decision because several media houses have refused to comply with its directives.
Head of Communications at FDA, James Lartey who disclosed this to some managers and representatives of radio stations in Tamale after a public forum said the major challenge was how some media houses are flouting the laws on advertisement.
To protect unsuspecting consumers and also inject some sanity into the advertisement industry, FDA has submitted about 15 ‘illegal adverts recordings’ to the police Criminal Investigations Department for investigations.
The FDA is justifying its actions based on Section 5 of the public health act which states that there are products for curing some diseases of which media houses cannot advertise. Diseases such as Hypertension, fibroid, AIDS, cancer, reproductive and heart related diseases, blindness among others are all not allowed under the law to be advertised.
The Ghana Independent Broadcasters’ Association (GIBA) and the Advertisers’ Association of Ghana (AAG) are both being informed, Mr Lartey said.
“We recognize the role the media plays in educating the public and without the media our work will be very difficult. We always have difficulty in dealing with the media houses on these issues; but even in Accra where the head office is, we have these challenges,” Mr Lartey lamented.
He explained that the FDA has no direct control over the media which makes it very difficult to demand that the right thing is done. He charged various media houses to demand approval of adverts, letter of registration from FDA which normally has an accredited stamp of the authority.