China's watchdogs exposed eight local television stations on Monday for broadcasting adverts for illegal drugs over the nationwide satellite network.

China's State Industry and Commerce Administration and State Food and Drug Administration published a blacklist that included television stations of Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Heilongjiang and Hebei provinces, Tianjin Municipality and the Inner Mongolia and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Regions.

According to the report, the television stations broadcasted adverts for prescription drugs, which exaggerated the effects of certain drugs or used celebrities to guarantee a drug's effectiveness.

The illegal adverts also included health foods that were advertised as medicines without permission from the authorities.

The State Industry and Commerce Administration called on local departments to strengthen supervision of advertisements broadcast by local television stations and punish the offending advertisers.

The State Food and Drug Administration ordered its local branches to carry out more inspections of local drug and health food producers.

(Xinhua News Agency April 24, 2007)