The National Committee for Oral Health (NCOH) may be subject to lawsuits both in Beijing and Shanghai for making official accreditation and misleading customers.

Xinhuannet.com reported last June the organization was comprised of nothing more than two full time clerks and two desks.

As China.com reported, the committee was located in a shabby building which was once a student dormitory at Peking University's School of Stomatology Outpatient Dental Center.

Chen Hong, NCOH office secretary, denied the criticisms. She told reporters that NCOH was an organization, supervised by the State, consisting of more than 50 members who are stomatology specialists.

Li Gang, chief editor of www.51gy.org, a private website dedicated to publishing information on Chinese public commonweal, accused in July 2005 the committee of not having sufficient authority to appraise oral health care products.

Chen Jiang, a lawyer from Shanghai, who is involved in the prosecution of the committee said, "I feel that I have been deceived for a long time."

"Like other customers, I considered it an authoritative official organization. But actually it isn't," Chen said.

Neither a non-governmental organization nor a governmental one, NCOH appears to have relied on financial support from companies looking to have their products approved for the last 18 years, press reports say.

The website China.com revealed that NCOH had never been officially registered by the Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People's Republic of China and therefore wasn't qualified to approve products.

In early March of this year Li went to Beijing Chaoyang Court to exchange evidence with the accused and found out about an agreement between Lotte China Foods Co. Ltd. and NCOH, showing NCOH had been sponsored by Lotte China.

Japan Hakuhodo Advertisement Agency in charge of public relations for Lotte China confirmed this arrangement.

Lotte China was originally interested in experiments on Lotte Chewing Gum Xylitol+2, testing the product's ability to prevent tooth decay, Niu, a public relations officer, explained.

Li had strong doubts about the contract between the two companies that appeared to be no more than a simple business deal.

"The Ministry of Health hasn't approved a health protection registration company," Li said. In other words, NCOH did not have the authority it advertised.

As a well-known organization, NCOH needs to be just, neutral and open, Li said.

Responding to these criticisms, the vice president of NCOH Zhang Boxue only quoted an old saying that an upright man fears no gossip, implying NCOH is free of blame.

Zhang said a group of oral health specialists in the early 1980s advocated establishing NCOH when asked the history of the committee.

However, Zhang explained to the press Tuesday that authority to appraise NCOH possessed differed from that of Certification and Accreditation Administration of the State.

"What NCOH has provided for the products are not 'authoritative' certification as advertised by enterprises", Zhang said, "It actually has been exaggerated by the enterprises."

Zhang again said NCOH was entirely a legal organization.

"We are merely trying to look for the partners to cooperate with in oral health protection through certification of products," Zhang added.

Oral health specialists across the country attended a seminar in Beijing held by the Chinese Stomatological Association (CSA) calling for an organization that was able to provide professional oral medical services to the public.

Chinese oral health at the time was substandard. The number of dentists in China was less than 0.01 percent among the total, Zhang said.

Zhang said that NCOH was approved on condition that it is not be financially dependent on the government and find its instruments and supplies elsewhere.

NCOH was to be involved in the prevention and treatment of oral disease, the support of professional dentists, and contributions to academic exchange, he said.

"But the biggest problem for us is not having enough money to fulfill those goals," Jiao Yufeng, vice president of the China Toothpaste Industry Association (CTIA), as well as an important sponsor for NCOH in the beginning of the organization, said. .

The CITA was responsible for raising money for most of NCOH's activities at the time, even for the publication of brochures, Jiao said.

In the 1990s, NCOH developed another new channel to funnel finances into the organization, an oral health fund, initially launched by Li Shijun, general manager of the Shenzhen branch of Guangshun Ltd.

NCOH quickly garnered up to 200 million yuan after the fund had been established.

With adequate financial support since 1992 NCOH has consisted of experienced oral health product research experts as well as experts in clinical treatment. It also gave approval on the quality and amount of products such as toothpaste, toothbrushes and mouthwash that were voluntarily provided by state-owned enterprises.

This arrangement remained stable until Proctor and Gamble (P&G) entered the Chinese market. P&G not only donated 10 million yuan to the fund but also asked NCOH to certify their toothpaste with "authoritative accreditation".

Jiao said he is against commercial companies taking advantage of NCOH's activities.

"NCOH should advance the personal consciousness of health care rather than only selling toothpastes," Jiao said.