Questions to be answered in Hongmao liquor case

It is obviously not sensible for a medical professional to give a sensational title to an otherwise academic article he posted online. Especially when his article accuses the liquor of being toxic rather than having medicinal benefits as its manufacturer claims.

The county's public security bureau is taking legal action against him claiming he has committed a criminal offense by tarnishing the liquor's reputation. But it is still not proper for police officers from Liangcheng county in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, where the liquor is brewed, to travel all the way to Guangzhou in South China's Guangdong province to detain the 39-year-old anesthetist.

The liquor, which is actually a concoction of more than 60 kinds of medicinal herbs, is registered as a nonprescription medicine, but the article said its health benefits were exaggerated by the producer, and it had been punished by some drug supervision authorities for false advertising.