Blacklist tackles organizations prone to scams

THE MINISTRY OF Civil Affairs recently published a blacklist of 84 non-governmental organizations, including a Hong Kong-based one that promoted drinking urine as a treatment for cancer. The group, which had over 100,000 members, was disqualified on the Chinese mainland 12 years ago yet re-registered in Hong Kong afterwards. Beijing Times commented on Wednesday:

According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, most of the unapproved social organizations on the list were founded to rake in so-called membership fees from senior citizens on the mainland.

The head of this "Urine Treatment Association" insisted that the sick should stop seeing doctors and drink their urine instead, despite such treatment being questioned and opposed by most medical experts. In other words, the urine treatment was nothing but a scam.