Cautioning that unchecked advertisement and practice of magic cures with impunity in the country might cause grave health-related hazards, experts say strict implementation of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 may help tackle the problem.

Long before viagra hit the scene, every available channel of mass media in India had always been replete with advertisements claiming magic cures and treatments for all libidonous shortcomings and related diseases although the more than 30-year-old Act clearly prohibits advertisements of any such drugs.

Traditional Indian cures, some genuine and some fake, had always been around -- sometimes boldly written on public walls or discreetly tucked away in obscure advertisement columns ofnewspapers and now with the spread of satellite TV, also on the local cable channel.

But according to the Act, no person shall take any part in the publication of any advertisement referring to any drug in terms which suggest or are calculated to lead to the use of that drug for ``.... the maintenance or improvement of the capacity of human beings for sexual pleasure...''

``Law is being violated primarily because of ignorance. Not many people are aware of the law. So nobody really takes recourse to the Act seeking to prevent such bogus advertisements,'' says Dr N Bhaskar Rao, chairman of the Centre for Media Studies (CMS) here.

``Media and the advertising fraternity should realise that they have a social purpose. Although under the present system of market economy, nobody can really avoid being profit-driven, yet a minimum social responsibility has to be maintained.

``A mere reportage about a wonder drug may also sometimes amount to advertising the subject and invite legal proceedings. Therefore, eventhe media has to be very careful while reporting such matters and take care to present both the pros and cons of using such drugs,'' cautions Rao.

However, while maintaining that every care is taken by them to ensure that legal limits are adhered to, advertising professionals say freedom of expression is a cardinal feature of any democracy and old laws and regulations should not be made a hindrance to it.

``Very rarely recourse is taken to the 1954 Act simply because they are not aware of it. The scope of the Act is fairly vast and the only need is to create awareness about it,'' says Sugrib Dubey, a senior lawyer at the Delhi High Court, who had taken help of the Act on a few occasions while fighting cases in the court.

He says that not only the advertising of magic remedies or wonder drugs, but also the practice of black magic like witchcraft can also be remedied with the help of the Act.

The Act includes as `magic remedy' ``a talisman, mantra, kavacha, and any other charm of any kind whichis alleged to possess miraculous powers for or in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of any disease in human beings or animals or for affecting or influencing in any way the structure or any organic function of the body of human beings or animals.''

However, with utter impunity and making a mockery of the Act, alleged quacks carry on vending their wares at almost all the main intersections and busy areas of the national capital, not to speak of the practice in smaller towns of the country.

A visit through any Indian town and city reveals wall writings advertising ``special sex clinics'' and also about medicines claiming to `enhance' one's ``performance in bed''.

``Most of the people who take the help of the quakes for magic cures, advertisements play a role only to the extent of drawing them to the concerned people. They would have in any case avoided going to an authorised doctor for fear of shame.

``Others who really observe the advertisements in the various forms of media likenewspapers and television are educated discerning customers. So some quack advertising his skills in the paper may not really have any influence on them,'' says a senior advertising executive.

``I have come across people who are a little bit apprehensive of even using the much-publicised viagra after those reports of death in the US and elsewhere after taking the pill,'' he says. But there may be no magic remedy for the menace unless law enforcement agencies start weilding the stick.