| China sentences the State Food and Drug Administration Director to death |
|
|
|
| World Affairs Talk | |
| Tuesday, 05 June 2007 | |
|
The death sentence was appropriate, according to the court, given the "huge bribes involved and the great damage inflicted on the country and the public by Zheng's dereliction of duty". Earlier, all of Zheng's personal property was confiscated and he was deprived from his political rights for life. The bribes taken by Zheng, including cash and gifts, were worth more than $850,000. The bribes were given either directly or through his wife and son. Zheng sought benefits for eight pharmaceutical companies by approving their drugs and medical devices during his tenure as China's chief drug and food official from June 1997 to December 2006. Zheng violated reporting rules and decision-making processes when approving medicines from 2001 to 2003. He failed to make careful arrangements for the supervision of medicine production, which is of critical importance to people's lives. The consequences of Zheng's dereliction of duty have proved extremely serious; six types of medicine approved by the administration during that period were fake medicines. Some pharmaceutical companies even used false documents to apply for approvals. The court during the verdict said, Zheng's acts 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. Prosecutors during the preceding reported that Zheng took the bribes to approve faulty medicines, including a bad batch of antibiotics that killed six patients and sickened eighty others. The safety of Chinese food and drugs is a growing concern, highlighted by the recent pet food poisonings that killed and sickened thousands of animals in the US and elsewhere and the discovery that Chinese toothpaste sold in Latin America might be contaminated with a poisonous chemical. The unsympathetic ruling proves that the Chinese government is very serious about cleaning up the widespread corruption that is beginning to give the rapidly developing nation a black eye in the global marketplace. Share & Bookmark             |
|
| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 06 June 2007 ) |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
