FDA targets more companies for lapses against consumer interest
15 Apr 2005
Mumbai: After hauling up Johnson &Johnson, Wipro, Emami and Wipro Consumer Care among others, the Maharsahtra Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has now turned the heat on Reckitt Benckiser for its Harpic toilet cleaner brand and Delhi-based personal care company Ozone Ayurvedics
In
the case of Reckitt & Benckiser the Maharashtra
FDA says the company needs to posses a drug licence
for its toilet cleaner brand Harpic as the product contains
certain ingredients, which classify it as a drug.
FDA officials said tests conducted on the Harpic brand,
which is sold as a disinfectant and powerful toilet
cleanser showed that the product contains chemicals
that would classify it under drugs. They said that since
the company does not possess a drug license the FDA
has issued notice to them.
Ozone
Ayurvedics a Delhi-based firm has also come under the
Maharashtra FDA's scanner and the authority has asked
the company for certain clarifications from the ayurvedic
company. FDA officials said tests done to assess the
advertorial claims by Ozone Ayurvedics manufacturer
of the 'No Mark' range of personal care products revealed
that the company has been making misleading claims about
the No Marks cream being an ayurvedic soap having anti-bacterial,
blood circulation enhancing abilities.
The company has been given two days to submit related
documents about its products.
In the recent past, the Maharashtra FDA has been taking
a number of consumer goods companies to task on various
consumer related issues. In January this year the authority
cancelled the licences of gutka manufacturers, wholesalers
and retailers in the entire state of Maharashtra after
it found that the gutka and paan masala sold contained
material magnesium carbonate a carcinogen.
The Maharashtra FDA's other targets have been food companies and drug retail shops. The regulatory authority picked up samples of Britannia bread from retail shops in South Mumbai, following consumer complaints that the manufacturing date printed on the cover was that of the next day. The authority instructed Parag Engineering Products, the facility that manufactured the faulty bread samples to stop production.
Last month the FDA also raided retail shops and seized Rs3-lakh worth of medicines, including ayurvedic medicines for slimming, diabetes and hair-dyes. Some of the products seized included Wondar Slim Herbal, Wondar Slim Ayurvedic, K.P.R.Diabetic Powder, RS Hair Care, Mind Power granules etc.
FDA officials said the advertisements of some of these products claimed to people slim in 15 days or cure a person of diabetes in a month. Further the product claims had no medical evidence.
The authority also found that the products which were manufactured in Madhya Pradesh (MP), were being manufactured under a fake license and a Hyderabad-based company Ramson Multibrands was marketing these products.
Other actions of the FDA included seizing Rs16,000 worth of ghee with a fake label of Aarey Ghee, which is a State Government enterprise.
The
most high profile so far has been the notices sent to
Johnson & Johnson and Wipro for their respective
"baby" oils containing mineral oil, believed
to be unfit for babies.
