(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-09 17:26

BEIJING -- A local television station and seven newspapers have been named by China's industry watchdog for carrying illegal advertisements in the second quarter of this year.

The State Administration for Industry and Commerce published a blacklist that included Shandong Education Television Station in east China's Shandong Province and seven newspapers in Beijing and Hebei, Hainan, Gansu, Guizhou provinces and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The report, based on the inspection of advertising carried by television stations and print media, exposed ads for drugs, medical treatments, health care products, cosmetics and cosmetic surgery that exaggerated treatment effects and cited patients' and experts' comments as proof of the effects.

The television station and newspapers would be penalized in accordance with laws and regulations, said the administration. It also called on its local branches to step up efforts to eradicate false advertising.

The quality of medicines, foodstuffs and medical services has become a serious public issue. Last year, 61,800 illegal advertising cases were investigated.

The administration began to publish the blacklist in 2001. In May, ten local newspapers and television stations were named and penalized for carrying illegal advertisements in the first quarter, most of which were  related to medicine, cosmetic surgery and health care products.