Food is generally not viewed as a medicinal product. However, advertisements for food which bear therapeutic claims may result in the food being classified as a medicinal product. In the United States and Malaysia, the general rule is that food is classified as a medicinal product if therapeutic claims are made in the advertisements. The general rule is, however, subject to exemptions, and the exemptions in the two jurisdictions vary considerably. This article examines the implications of these exemptions for consumer protection in the two jurisdictions. It explores whether or not there is inadequate protection for consumers when food, which qualifies as a medicinal product, is not so classified and, accordingly subject to regulation as a medical product.

The internet offers significant benefits to consumers in the form of greater and easier access to detailed information as well as convenient access to healthcare information but also for prescriptions and medical advice. The Malaysian government embarked on building a healthcare information system for the 21st century through its Tele-health Project 2000. The said project aims to keep people healthy through a virtual healthcare information system. One important aspect of healthcare is pharmaceuticals. Although there are undoubted benefits of online pharmacies such as competitive prices, convenience and privacy, but there are potential risk involved as well, one of which is false and misleading information. Malaysia has developed some significant laws primarily to protect its consumers. These piecemeal laws have been able to meet the basic objectives of consumer protection as and when required. However, the concept of online pharmacy demands more comprehensive consumer protection. This article explores if a specific law governing the advertising of pharmaceutical products by online pharmacies is needed. In doing so, it examines the legal issues associated with online advertising of pharmaceutical products and the extent to which existing laws governing the advertising of the same is adequate.

Science has revolutionized the reproductive environment. At the current era of advance science and technology the impossible, unimaginable or unthinkable is achievable. It has not only been made possible for a woman to have sexual intercourse without getting pregnant, but also to get pregnant without sexual intercourse. One of such means is through surrogacy. In a surrogacy arrangement a woman known as the 'surrogate mother' consents to bear a child for a childless couple. The surrogate mother is impregnated either by artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization. After carrying the child for forty weeks and delivering the child thereafter, the child is handed to the custody of the childless couple. The surrogate's ties or bond with the child ends upon the delivery of the child. However, as simple as it sounds, surrogacy arrangements raise many dilemmas in the context of law, religion, morality, custom and culture. This article looks at the legal, moral and religious implications arising in surrogacy arrangements. Should surrogacy arrangements be treated as a mere contract? What is the validity of such arrangements and the moral issues arising in the Malaysian perspective?

In Malaysia, sellers are required to submit advertisements with medicinal claims to the Medicine Advertisement Board of Malaysia (MAB) for a review before the advertisements can be published or broadcast. The MAB is responsible to approve the claims in the advertisements before the products bearing them may be marketed to consumers. This form of regulatory control, which is known as a system of pre-approval of advertisements, is carried out to prevent irreparable harm that may be caused by advertising. Advertisements are checked for not only untrue, misleading or highly exaggerated medicinal claims but also impermissible claims. Whilst Malaysia exercises a system of pre-approval of advertisements of medicines and thereby is able to prevent a fraction of deceptive advertisements from reaching the public, the system is arguably inadequate given the increasing number of deceptive claims in advertisements. This paper aims to examine the system of pre-approval of advertisements in Malaysia by way of comparison with the system in Australia, and suggest how the system may be improved so as to ensure a better protection to consumers who rely on advertisements with medicinal claims.

Today we are at the digital age which promises benefits of technology. • Many surveys have confirmed the growth of e-commerce over the next few years. • The growth in E-Commerce however has posed a variety of unexpected legal problem. • In this connection online advertising has attracted special attention given the intrusive nature of Internet technology.

The term 'drug' is defined as '[including] any substance, product or article intended to be used or capable, or purported or claimed to be capable, of being used on humans or any animal, whether internally or externally, for medicinal purposes' under s 2 of the Sale of Drugs Act 1952 (Malaysia). Further, the term 'medicinal purposes' is elaborated to mean any of the following purposes: '(a) alleviating, treating, curing or preventing a disease or a pathological condition or symptoms of a disease; (b) diagnosing a disease or ascertaining the existence, degree or extent of a physiological or pathological condition; (c) contraception; (d) inducing anaesthesia; (e) maintaining, modifying, preventing, restoring, or interfering with, the normal operation of a physiological function; (f) controlling body weight; and (g) general maintenance or promotion of health or well-being'. By this definition, groups of products with medicinal value or products which are intended to be used for medicinal, remedial or therapeutic purposes, such as diagnosing, curing, mitigating, treating or preventing diseases are referred to as medicinal products. Medicinal products broadly include prescription drugs (PD) and non-prescription drugs (NPD) and products which fall in the interfaces between 'food and drugs' or 'food and cosmetics'. The advertising of such products is regulated by the Medicine Advertisement Board (MAB) under the Medicines (Advertisement and Sale) Act 1956. However, despite rigid regulatory controls, the problem of prohibited claims or deceptive claims in advertisements of medicinal products has not been effectively curtailed. To what extent this problem is contributed by inadequacies in the Medicines (Advertisement and Sale) Act 1956 is examined in this paper. The paper also explores how the main inadequacies in the Act could be addressed through an involvement by industries in the regulation.

The Internet offers significant benefits to consumers in the form of greater and easier access to detailed information as well as convenient access to healthcare products and services. Consumers are turning to the Internet not just for the healthcare information but also for prescriptions and medical advice. The Malaysian government embarked on building a healthcare information system for the 21st century through its Tele-health Project 2000. The said project aims to keep people healthy through a virtual healthcare information system. One important aspect of healthcare is pharmaceuticals. There are undoubted benefits of online pharmacies such as competitive prices, convenience and privacy. But, there are potential risk involved as well, one of which is false and misleading information. Malaysia has developed some significant laws primarily to protect its consumers. These piecemeal laws have been able to meet the basic objectives of consumer protection as and when required. However, the concept of online pharmacy demands more comprehensive consumer protection. The article examines the legal issues associated with online advertising of pharmaceutical products and suggestions to address these issues.

A mind shift in the concepts of private international law is in dire need of a change not only because of the borderless nature of the Internet but for the evolution of a new way of life in the unfolding age of information and knowledge. Consumers are in dire need of protection to accord certainty and confidence of their rights and liabilities for any activities interplayed via the Internet. The current law is not feasible when consumers transacts via the Internet because the Internet is stated to be "structured logically and not geographically". Determining choice of law based on imputation of 'close connection', 'intention of the parties', 'place of business' are all geographically based. Businesses set up in the WWW need not have any physical presence. They can be run without any offices or other forms of business premise whereby their physical presence can be located. Thus, the fact that the Internet is under the predomination that is 'virtual' which encompass of mere networks, a paradigm shift in the mindset for determining choice of law based on physical presence is desired. Applying doctrinal analysis the author contends that the principles governing the private international law in Malaysia need to be redefined with a global outlook. Practices of comity for the protection of consumers need to be articulated in the conflict of laws. Private international law should not be left to the practice of the laissez-faire market which is opined to be myopic, interested only in the bottom line with no concern for social justice.