CHF backpedals on S3 ads
January 24, 2014
The Consumer Health Forum
(CHF) has issued a correction,
following its statement on Thursday
that it had written to the Pharmacy
Board of Australia regarding its
concern that the Pharmacy Guild of
Australia (PGA) and the Australian
Self-Medication Industry (ASMI)
were calling for authorities to ease
advertising bans on codeine and
ibuprofen.
The CHF had said the combination
of such drugs was addictive and
potentially dangerous in large doses,
and that the advertising proposal
“sounds like giving vampires
directions to the blood bank.”
However ASMI said it had been
explicit in exempting codeinecontaining
anlagesics, as well as
pseudoephedrine from its proposal
to introduce an alternative
regulatory model for advertising
Pharmacist Only medicines.
“Under ASMI’s proposed model,
the emphasis will be on creating
consumer awareness about the
condition and/or symptoms for
a selection of Pharmacist Only
medicines, and highlighting the
importance of the role of the
pharmacist in determining whether
the product is appropriate for that
consumer.”
Examples included proton-pump
inhibitors (PPIs) for the treatment
of heartburn, it said.
The Guild said the CHF was
verballing it and misrepresenting its
position in an unfortunate way.
“We support measures which
emphasise the importance of
seeking the advice of pharmacists
in relation to the quality use of all
medicines.”
The CHF issued a correction later
in the day, saying it had been wrong
to state that the self-medication
industry and the Guild called for the
easing of advertising restrictions on
over-the-counter sales of codeine.
CHF spokesman Mark Metherell
said while the industry was calling
for an easing of advertising bans
on Pharmacy Only products, “CHF
accepts that the Australian Self-
Medication Industry has stated that
the changes could make exceptions,
where it was in the public interest,
to exclude S3 products l
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