China FDA

[Guest guest]

Ex-Chief of China Food and Drug Unit Sentenced to Death for Graft

 

 

By DAVID BARBOZA

Published: May 30, 2007

 

SHANGHAI, May 29 ¡ª The former director of China¡¯s top food and drug

safety agency was sentenced to death on Tuesday after pleading guilty

to corruption and accepting bribes, the state-controlled news media

reported.

 

China Daily, via Reuters

 

Zheng Xiaoyu was the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration

from its founding in 1998 until mid-2005, when he was removed from his

post. He was detained in February in a government investigation of the

agency, which is supposed to be China¡¯s food and drug watchdog. Two

other top agency officials have also been detained.

 

Mr. Zheng, 62, received the unusually harsh sentence amid heightened

concern about the quality and safety of China's food and drug system

after several scandals involving tainted food and phony drugs.

 

China is also under mounting pressure to overhaul its food export

controls after two Chinese companies were accused this year of

shipping contaminated pet food ingredients to the United States,

setting off one of the largest pet food recalls in United States history.

 

China¡¯s regulators are also coming under scrutiny after diethylene

glycol, a toxic chemical sometimes used in antifreeze, ended up in

cough syrup and toothpaste in Latin America. In Panama, more than 100

people died last year after consuming cough medicine laced with

diethylene glycol, which was shipped from China mislabeled as a

harmless syrup.

 

The incidents pose a huge threat to China¡¯s growing food and drug

exports and have already led to international calls for new testing

and screening methods for Chinese-made goods.

 

The problems are more serious in China because tens of thousands of

people are sickened or killed every year as a result of rampant

counterfeiting of drugs, and tainted and substandard food and drugs.

 

For instance, last year 11 people died in China after being treated

with an injection tainted by a poisonous chemical. Six people died and

80 others fell ill after taking an antibiotic that had been produced,

according to government regulators, with a ¡°substandard disinfectant.¡±

 

Small drug makers in China have long been accused of manufacturing

phony or substandard drugs and marketing them to the nation¡¯s

hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. And mass poisonings involving

tainted food products are common.

 

The Chinese government has stepped up its patrols in recent weeks,

announcing measures aimed at strengthening food and drug safety and

cracking down on counterfeiting operations.

 

On Tuesday, the government said it was preparing to release its first

regulation on nationwide food recalls. It also said it would crack

down on food products that are being illegally exported, bypassing

food inspections.

 

As for Mr. Zheng, the government said that as director of the Food and

Drug Administration, he took bribes worth about $850,000 in exchange

for approving drug production licenses.

 

Worried that many of those drugs may be substandard, China is

reviewing more than 170,000 production licenses the agency issued in

the past decade.

 

It is unclear whether or when Mr. Zheng will be executed. In some

cases, death sentences for officials are commuted.

[Guest guest]

D'ya think our FDA will take notice. Sounds like a good idea to me.

 

Peace

 

Ed Kasper LAc. & family

Santa Cruz, CA

 

........................

Ex-Chief of China Food and Drug Unit Sentenced to Death for Graft

 

By DAVID BARBOZA

Published: May 30, 2007

 

SHANGHAI, May 29 ¡ª The former director of China¡¯s top food and drug

safety agency was sentenced to death on Tuesday after pleading guilty

to corruption and accepting bribes, the state-controlled news media

reported.

 

China Daily, via Reuters