China's food and drug safty chief sentenced to death

May 31, 2007

China sentences drug regulator to death

By Calum MacLeod, USA TODAY

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2007-05-29-china-drug-

regulator_N.htm?csp=34

BEIJING — A Beijing court on Tuesday sentenced to death China's former food and

drug safety chief for accepting more than $800,000 in bribes from pharmaceutical

companies, state media said. The tough sentence follows growing domestic and

international pressure to clean up China's food and drug sectors after a series

of scandals including the poisoning of hundreds of American pets.

Zheng Xiaoyu, director of China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) from

1998 to 2005, was convicted of taking bribes and dereliction of duty, according

to state news agency Xinhua. The court said Zheng, 62, " sought benefits " for

eight pharmaceutical companies by approving their drugs and medical devices,

Xinhua reported.

His actions " greatly undermined the uprightness of an official post and the

efficiency of China's drug monitoring and supervision, endangered public life

and health and had a very negative social impact, " the court said.

The harsh penalty surprised some in China. " I thought he would get life in jail,

but he deserved the death sentence " said Luo Yunbo, head of the Food Science and

Nutrition Engineering Institute at the Chinese Agricultural University. " As an

official he did some good things, like promoting the ISO system for food safety

management, but he used his position as a tool to make money, " Luo said. " The

decision reflects public opinion. They think he deserves the death sentence

because of problems with food safety and fake drugs. "

One antibiotic approved during Zheng's tenure was withdrawn from the market last

year after 10 patients died, state media have reported. Scores of similar deaths

in recent years from fake drugs and tainted food products have enraged many

Chinese. " How much money is Zheng Xiaoyu's life worth? Can his life return the

life of even one victim? It can't be returned! " wrote Zhang Cheng on bokee.com,

China's most popular blogging website. " Is Zheng Xiaoyu dying once enough? Even

if he died many times it would not be enough! "

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Some online commentators doubted that the death penalty, which may be commuted

on appeal, will affect China's deeply entrenched system of graft. " This sentence

satisfies the public's psychological need to vent their anger and resentment,

but does not help in the least to curb the raging tide of corrupt and embezzling

officials, " wrote independent scholar Qiu Feng on the website Southcn.com.

Chinese authorities hope the country's first food recall system, announced

Tuesday, will help in the fight to improve food safety. A draft regulation to be

finalized by year end will target " potentially dangerous and unapproved food

products " , Wu Jianping, a senior food production and supervision official, told

the state-run China Daily newspaper.

" All domestic and foreign food producers and distributors will be obliged to

follow the system " and recall products that are confirmed to endanger health, Wu

was reported as saying.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has linked poisoned ingredients imported

from China to a massive recall of pet food and animal feeds the past two months.

The pet food has been blamed for the deaths of thousands of pets, according to

unconfirmed reports petowners made to the FDA.

In the same China Daily, Li Yuanping, from the ministry responsible for checking

exports, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and

Quarantine, complained that the USA does not require imports to come from

officially registered plants and be accompanied by official certificates.

On return from a trip to meet his American counterparts, Li warned foreign

importers not to buy " illegal products that have tarnished the reputation of all

Chinese food products, " China Daily reported.

In another development this week, China's top food safety watchdog, the SFDA,

where Zheng Xiaoyu formerly worked, announced plans to blacklist rule-breaking

food producers and bar serious violators from the market.

" Both the food recall system and the blacklist are good, important measures that

will push forward food safety, " said Professor Luo Yunbo. " The recall system has

been discussed for a long time. I think domestic pressure, and the needs of

Chinese consumers, has been the main driver, but international pressure might be

an aspect to promote the system becoming reality earlier, " Luo said.

China has undergone a significant shift in attitudes over the past 12 months,

says Mark Dewar, a partner at law firm & and board member of the

International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization. " There is now a

receptiveness to understand and listen to how the rest of the world deals with

the issue of product safety, " Dewar said at a conference on product safety held

last week in Beijing.

" On food safety, no country is immune from problems. Any serious exporter will

face these crises from time to time, " Dewar said. " But as the emphasis shifts

from making other people's brands to developing their own brands, the Chinese

are learning that quality underpinning a brand is vital for sustaining that

brand. China is a vast country, analogous to the EU, so it is difficult to get

the various regions to pull together. We must help them get to where they want

to be. "

'WE ALL WANT 100% QUALIFIED PRODUCTS'

Professor Yang Shuming, head of the quality testing institute under China's

Ministry of Agriculture, says Beijing is spending " tens of millions " of dollars

to improve the country's food testing system.

" There are now 300 agricultural product inspection centers nationwide, and the

government is investing significant funds to increase this number and guarantee

product safety, " Yang said.

The sheer scale of China's food industry presents major headaches for

authorities, Yang adds. " Unlike in the U.S., which has fewer but bigger farms,

there are over 200 million farming households in China, and each one is a

production unit. We are a developing country and we can't visit them all, so we

need better methods of inspection and supervision. "

Yang says that results show a clear upward trend in food quality. " When we

started testing samples of animal feed in 1988, only 20% were up to standard.

Now 95% of animal feed passes inspection, " Yang said.

U.S. inspectors and importers should review their own actions, says Yang, who

participated in the Chinese government's investigation into the pet food

scandal.

" It was illegal for companies to use industrial labels [rather than foodstuffs]

to avoid customs inspection and make export easier and cheaper. The Chinese

government does not encourage this, but both sides have made mistakes, in China

and America, " Yang said.

The pet food contamination " is a new problem that has happened, and one that

came through normal trade channels. We need a consultative attitude. Don't use

such big pressure and politics, this is not a good method. We all want 100%

qualified products, but that's impossible. European countries have problems,

too, " Yang said.