Chemist Warehouse says it will not comply with an order of retraction, despite being found to have made “unlawful, misleading, and unverified” claims on its website.

The order relates to content posted on Chemist Warehouse’s website about its vitamins, titled ‘health information’, which discussed health problems such as breast cancer, diabetes, and stroke, alongside advertisements for various vitamins, reports The Australian Financial Review.

The Complaints Resolution Panel found “any reasonable consumer would relate the content of the breast cancer and stroke pages to the advertisement promoting the supply of vitamins”.

The panel rejected Chemist Warehouse’s claims that the content was not an advertisement, and that the juxtaposition of the ‘health information’ with retail links was similar to newspapers’ news content with advertisements on the same page.

The ruling comes less than two years after the pharmacy chain was found to have breached advertising standards in promoting a prescription-only cholesterol drug as free of charge.