Prevent Pandemic Profiteering, Pronto

Thou shalt not mislead is a decent standing dictum for advertisements. In times of pandemic, we need something stronger, such as, thou shalt not exploit fear and despair to get people to buy illusory protection from the dreaded virus. The government and regulatory agencies must take proactive measures to prevent pandemic profiteering.

This will require a higher bar of standards to clear not just for products but for their advertisements as well. Companies must be held liable for the claims that are made in the advertisements, especially those that induce people to buy drugs, devices and products promising protection from Covid. The infectious nature of the disease, the rapidly mutating virus, the absence of a cure and the lack of firm answers since experts are still on a learning curve make people vulnerable. In such a situation, for companies and individuals to offer false hope of protection or cure from the virus is not acceptable.

Over the past 14 months, there have been advertisements on a range of products from plywood that is capable of resisting the Sars-Cov-2 virus to devices that can neutralise indoor air of the virus to therapies that can cure or ward off Covid. While many of these advertisements indicate that the product has been vetted and has received approval from regulatory agencies, closer inspection reveals approval for product design and electric safety, not from any health-related regulator, as imputed.


But a claim of having obtained regulatory approval, imputing, rather than stating, clearance from a health regulator, should not be allowed. Improved regulatory oversight should require all products making a claim to offer protection from Sars-Cov-2 virus to display approval from the medical regulator, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, on its label and in all advertising. Tighter norms are required when consumers are vulnerable, and these should be proactively enforced by, say, the ministry of consumer affairs, right now busy confounding extant ecommerce regulation issued by the industry ministry.