Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Google Bans Pe Min Kan Wan 鼻寧丸

Hard to believe but true. Google has banned Pe Min Kan Wan. Any advertiser that uses Google AdWords and lists this product may have their site banned from Google AdWords advertising. That happened to East Earth Trade Winds. Their Google Adwords account has been suspended since April 1, 2013 because of listing Pe Min Kan Wan as a product on their website. Capricious and Arbitrary? Seems that way. We wanted to talk to the Google Policy-Makers but were told we couldn't do that. Now East Earth Trade Winds has had to list the product as Bi Min Kan Wan in order to be able to list the product on their website (Pe Min Kan Wan is also written in Pinyin as "Bi Min Gan Wan"). Why is Pe Min Kan Wan banned though? It's a is a popular herbal remedy for hay fever and cold symptoms and is also good for sinus problems, sneezing, and cough. Google Policy-Makers don't see it that way though. Not that they've ever taken the time to study Chinese Herbal Medicine. It seems like the Policy-Makers at Google decided that the Pe Min Kan Wan formula is somehow related to the abuse of the Chinese herb ephedra (Chinese: Ma Huang) which is banned in the USA. Apparently the Google Policy-Makers don't research things too well before banning them because there's no ephedra in Pe Min Kan Wan.  
Pe Min Kan Wan contains: Magnolia flower, Xanthium fruit, Isatis root, Pogostemon herb, Chrysanthemum morifolium flower, Saposhnikovia  root, Centepida minima herb, Mentha herb, and Perilla leaf. There's not a speck of ephedra in this product.
We don't agree with Google's policy. We think it is not only a poorly researched decision but also an infringement on our freedom of speech and providing educational information on Chinese Herbal Medicine to the public. As a result we ask you to boycott Google and use Yahoo or Bing or any other search engine instead.
What words will they ban next? Watch for our next posting and find out.

3 comments:

David Armstrong said...

Michel, I have seen reports that Bing searches are less likely to present results which carry malware.

best, David

Unknown said...

Thanks for bringing this to our attention - Google -hope you read this and hire a Chinese herbal expert to keep you from making fools of yourselves.

Unknown said...

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Google, hope you read this and hire a Chinese herbal expert to stop making fools of yourselves