Adverts claiming that a tea containing Chinese herbs destroys HIV have been canned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The ASA said in a ruling released this week that the marketers of Revivo tea, Aconite Medical Suppliers, had produced no credible evidence that the tea had any effect on HIV or Aids.
The ruling followed a complaint by a member of the public, Johannesburg resident Patrick Linzer.
'Destroyed 95% of virus'
The website www.revivotea.com had claimed that 11 herbs were tested against the HIV virus in an "independant [sic]" laboratory in California, and again in Hong Kong.
"Eleven of them showed significant activity against the HIV virus. Five of them destroyed more than 95% of the virus," it claimed.
"The safest and most effective of these herbs are contained in Revivo. Shouldn't you know more about Revivo then?"
The website also claimed Chinese herbal medicine had been treating HIV and Aids successfully "even before HIV and Aids was recognised". – (SAPA, August 2009)
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