New Delhi, June 25 Access to information about sex on the Internet in China will be further restricted under a new regulation by the Ministry of Health.

Under the regulation, which will come into effect on July 1, only health professionals and researchers can access websites that link to sex-related studies and research.

The MOH will better manage and monitor health-related websites, which require approval and registration with health authorities, The China Daily quoted an officer-surnamed Yang, as saying.

Xia Guomei, a researcher with the Shanghai Academy of Social Science, said that she welcomes the regulation in general, because many websites, which purport to give information about health, actually contain harmful information like pornography.

However, scientific sexual health knowledge and information is in high demand, and the public should not be denied this information, she noted.

Research shows that many Chinese adults educate themselves about sex through the Internet. Information on the Internet is plentiful, and people can learn about sex privately and efficiently, research says.

"The Internet itself is good as a channel for delivering and receiving information, particularly for proper sex education," Xia said.

The regulation applies to websites that are advertised as being health-based, including websites run by research institutes and private companies. It gave no details about how professionals would register for the information.

With control and monitoring, websites that specialize in healthcare might become an effective sex education base for the general public, Xia said.

Since the beginning of the year, more than 1,000 websites have been closed for distributing porn and other lewd materials to clean up the Internet. (ANI)