Seven people, including an executive of a Tokyo-based publishing company, were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of advertising "meshimakobu" mushrooms as an anticancer drug in 2003 in violation of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law, investigation sources said.
The seven suspects include Maki Kimura, a 49-year-old executive of the Tokyo-based publisher Shiki Shuppan, and Yoshinori Murakami, 40, former executive of the health food vender, which is now defunct, the sources said.
Hiroaki Numasawa, 43, an editor at the publisher, and Shingo Horiuchi, 32, president of Oasis Co., another health food vender based in Yamanashi Prefecture, are also suspects, they said.
Kimura was arrested last month over similar advertising of agaricus mushrooms but was released without being indicted, they said.
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