Press Releases
Please follow the link for all media enquiries and to contact the council's communications team.
For all other general council enquiries and information please use the 'contact us' page.
All Press releases are listed below in reverse date order.
25/10/2006
Trading standards success in rare court cancer ruling
A company based in a Barnet health club has been fined over its exhibition of an advert claiming to be able to treat cancer and HIV with alternative Chinese medicine, in a rare court case brought by Barnet trading standards officers under the Cancer Act 1939.
A self-employed practitioner of Chinese medicine, Johannes ter Gast, of Derby Road, Watford, who rented space at premises owned by Re-Aqua HP Limited, of Graham House, Pennels Court, Guildford, at Holmes Place health club in Hendon Way, offered services using 3,000-year-old herb recipes which he claimed could be used to the same effect as modern-day treatments for cancer and HIV.
Re-Aqua HP Limited was fined £800 by Barnet magistrates on Thursday, while ter Gast was fined £300. Both admitted a charge of publishing an advertisement which contravened the provisions of the act. They had to pay an additional £1,250 between them to cover the council’s costs.
Under the act, it is illegal to publish claims to treat or advise on the treatment of cancer, because of the risk of misleading sick and vulnerable members of the community.
However, prosecutions under the act can only be brought with the express permission of the Solicitor General. Having reviewed the council’s evidence, the Rt Honourable Mike O’Brien QC, MP, agreed that a prosecution was in the public interest.
Cllr Melvin Cohen, Cabinet Member for Planning and Environmental Protection, said: “This advertisement might have misled ill members of the Barnet population and our trading standards officers took the right and proper course of action by vigorously pursuing this difficult prosecution.
“We are determined to stamp out any type of advertising that might lead people to waste money on claims made without any scientific basis but for financial gain, and which may also mean that some seriously ill people might not seek appropriate and timely medical treatment.”
Contact Press Officer: Johnathan Schroder
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