The aisles of the second annual Natural Products Expo Asia at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre were bustling last week with thousands of buyers from more than 50 countries hunting for natural products that hawked their ability to detoxify the body and boost immunity, among other claims.
But local exhibitors were distracted from the business at hand by a new Department of Health proposal, which many believed would prevent them from marketing their products in Hong Kong - and would threaten the future of events such as the expo.
The proposal, an amendment to the Undesirable Medical Advertisements Ordinance (UMAO), stated that 'so-called health food products' couldn't make any claim, written or spoken, about nine areas of health, including breast lumps, genito-urinary function, and regulation of the endocrine system, blood pressure and blood sugar.
The government said the amendment was needed because more products making claims not covered under the original UMAO had entered the market, and complaints about them from the public were on the rise. A committee formed last year to study the claims came up with the nine areas. 'Misleading or exaggerated' claims in these areas could cause consumers to delay seeking proper medical treatment, exposing them to health risks, according to the government.
'We often encounter people who are harmed by these false claims,' said Dr Lo Wing-lok, president of the Hong Kong Medical Association and deputy chairman of the government's Health Services Panel.
'Instead of receiving conventional treatment for their illnesses, they just use these so-called health products, and as a result, their treatment might be delayed and the consequences might be making a less serious illness more serious or a curable illness incurable.'
But some didn't buy that. In letters sent to the government, alternative-medicine doctors, supplements manufacturers and retailers, among others, argued the proposal would restrict the flow of information to consumers and stifle the natural products trade.