Maharashtra FDA issues notices to Amazon, Flipkart for selling pregnancy termination pills

New Delhi: The Maharashtra Food and Drug Authority (FDA) on Thursday said it has issued notices to e-commerce giants Amazon and Flipkart after it allegedly found that pregnancy termination kits and pills are available for sale on these platforms without prescription.

The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 prohibits online distribution of such medicines without any prescription, it said in a statement here. 

Acting on a tip-off, the FDA placed orders for "medical termination of pregnancy" kits on Amazon, and the order was accepted by some suppliers based in Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, the authority alleged. 

A similar case was found with Flipkart, the FDA alleged. The statement did not give any details of the notices. All in all, it "checked" 34 e-commerce portals to see if they sell medicines without prescriptions, the FDA said. Also Read: Airtel, Vi could hike tariffs of telecom plans in August, time to loosen your purse strings?

Troubles for Amazon and Flipkart have increased in the recent past. According to a report by Reuters, Walmart-owned Flipkart and Amazon.com Inc have asked the Supreme Court to restrain the country`s antitrust body from seeking sensitive business information in an e-commerce investigation. Also Read: Google swipes left on 'Sugar Dating' apps, will uninstall them from Play Store by Sept 1