Posted on 05/28/2007 11:54:28 PM PDT by Sleeping Beauty
BEIJING -- China's former top drug regulator was sentenced to death today for taking bribes to approve untested medicines, as the country's main quality control agency announced its first recall system targeting unsafe food products.
The developments are among the most dramatic steps Beijing has publicly taken to address domestic and international alarm over shoddy and unsafe Chinese goods -- from pet food ingredients and toothpaste mixed with industrial chemicals to tainted antibiotics.
The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court convicted Zheng Xiaoyu for taking bribes in cash and gifts worth more than $832,000 when he was director of the State Food and Drug Administration, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
The court then issued the death penalty, the report said.
A woman surnamed Liu who answered the telephone at the court's duty office confirmed the report but declined to give additional details.
Zheng, who ran the drug administration from its creation in 1998 until he was fired in 2005, saw his power increase substantially in 2002 when the government required that all drugs be approved by the agency. The change resulted in a massive backlog, giving companies a strong incentive to find ways to expedite approvals.
In one instance, an antibiotic approved by Zheng's agency killed at least 10 patients last year before it was taken off the market.
Also today, an official from the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said that the recall system will be part of a new regulation crafted by the agency and will be implemented by the end of the year.
The US Food and Drug Administration warned consumers not to buy or eat imported fish from China labeled as monkfish because it might actually be puffer fish, which contains a potentially deadly toxin called tetrodotoxin.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
China is so clueless.
Scapegoat
Now, that’s tough regulation. I wonder how hard it will be to find a replacement for Mr. Zheng?
“No, I think you should be head of the State Food and Drug Ministry.”
“Oh, no, you! I insist.”
“Oh, no, you! I insist.”
LMAO! Good one!
Draconian enforcement of morality laws is no replacement for the Biblical teachings on truth which has provided the underpinnings of Western civilization. Ultimately, you cannot legislate morality.
“Ultimately, you cannot legislate morality.”
Of course you can. We do it all the time, and have for time immemorial. Now whether it changes the behavior of the people is a debatable point.
At the end of the year photo op at the University . . .
the top leaders exchanged variations on that back and forth regarding the highest honored central front row position
. . .
for 45 MINUTES at least . . . while all the rest of the entire faculty were not so patiently waiting . . . though with patience quite routinely and markedly above that of Americans LOL
I like your tag line.
His elimination should end all productive
investigations by America into the poisons coming from China.
Pretty convenient.
Why I support Duncan Hunter, among other reasons.
This is such a farce. Does china really think that the world will blame one person for their murderous behavior?
It’s up to people here now to remember that this is a market economy and change what they buy to the extent that they can. Some products may be difficult to find from places other than China or may be far too expensive from a non-China source for some people, but overall I believe that as educated consumahs (for all you Sy Syms fans), we should be using that education to get away from a country that seems to be intentionally poisoning us, or if not intentionally, has accidentally tipped us off that they can intentionally poison us if need be.
I think he was selected to take the fall, to protect a better-connected Party member
mmm my food already taste better
i think now more investments should be carried there
now if a foreign firm ceo screws up to they take him out as well
one wonders
Capitolism without a conscience.
True. True.
And thanks for your kind words. Yours has a lot of true punch, too.
Precisely. This is designed to get maximum publicity to try and counter the well-earned suspicion China has engendered. Notice...their FIRST reaction was to deny that they had any responsibility to the Western victims whatsover. Now they murder one of their own..
Not terribly encouraging as an affirmation of their civilized status. Meanwhile...I don't see any big offers to settle with the Western victims of their poisonings...and they are sitting on a trillion U.S. bucks hoarded away and controlled by the Communist Party...and it will soon be $2 trillion!!!! But not a penny for the victims...time for the Trial Lawyers to earn their keep.
Go for this particular "Deep Pocket".
But also for PR-damage control. They recognized that their Victim...the U.S...was waking up to their hazard...if not their enmity.
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