Chicago Tribune | Google breaks link with illegal pharmacies:
"Google, the popular Internet search engine, will stop accepting advertising from unlicensed pharmacies that have used cyber-space to sell prescription drugs without medical supervision, company officials said.

The action comes after the company was contacted by the father of a teenager in suburban Chicago who said his son had used the search engine to locate and order Vicodin from an Internet site in Florida."

Google's step follows decisions last month by Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN service to stop accepting such advertising. Its move also comes as regulators and members of Congress shift their focus from the illicit pharmacies to the legitimate Web portals, credit card companies, shippers and banks that facilitate the sales.

"These legitimate businesses are an important but faceless part of the supply chain for these dangerous drugs," said Carmen Catizone, executive director of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, which has lobbied such companies as Google to stop accepting ads from rogue Web sites.

Health care represented about 5 percent of the total online advertising sales in October, according to the Nielsen/NetRatings. No one knows how many come from the rogue sites.…

http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0312010145dec01,1,7703088.story?coll=chi-news-hed