SOUTH AFRICA: MCC reacts to legal threats by AIDS activists

JOHANNESBURG, 20 Apr 2005 (PLUSNEWS) - South Africa's Medicines Control Council (MCC) is investigating claims by vitamin proponent Matthias Rath that his products can treat HIV better than anti-AIDS drugs.

Earlier this week the AIDS lobby group, Treatment Action Campaign, threatened litigation if the MCC failed to take immediate action against Rath.

However, the MCC says its actions will be based on the fact that Rath's medicines were not registered with the council as having antiretroviral properties.

In an interview MCC spokesman Humphrey Zokufa told the South African Broadcasting Corporation: "If people dispense medicines with claims about their efficacy, and those claims have not been approved by the MCC, then that is an illegal action."

[ENDS]