China’s top drug regulator gets death sentence

[nedbal]

Source: Associated Press

China’s top drug regulator gets death sentence
Zheng convicted of accepting bribes, dereliction of duty

BREAKING NEWS

Updated: 27 minutes ago
BEIJING - China's top drug regulator was sentenced to death on charges of corruption and negligence, state media said Tuesday, the latest development stemming from growing alarm over the country's poor food-safety record.

Zheng Xiaoyu was convicted and sentenced "on charges of taking bribes and dereliction of duty" at the Beijing Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, the Xinhua News Agency said in a brief dispatch. No other details were given.

Zheng was fired in 2005 on charges he took up to US$780,000 in bribes to approve medicine that had not been tested to ensure its safety.


Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18911849/

[acmavm]

1. From what I understand, the Chinese don't fool around. No appeal

process, no waiting.

Just lights out.

[Zynx]

4. May well have been shot by now.

[kurth]

9. In China "gangsters and corrupt officials are killed by injection more than gunshot":

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-06-14-death-van_x.htm

[acmavm]

14. That's news to me. Whatever, life is cheap cheap cheap in China

and it's getting to be the same here.

[pampango]

30. "Life is cheap in China" is a stereotype.

That implies that Chinese value their own lives and those of others less than we do. I believe that no individual takes his/her life lightly, nor do they value lightly the lives of their family and friends.

They may have to deal with the "reality" of high mortality rates for children and adults, but does not mean they value less the lives that are lost. Our soldiers have to adapt to losing many buddies in combat, but they do not devalue the loss of live.

Is life cheap in Africa, Latin America, the rest of Asia, and in our own ghettos? Or is it just in China, because we like to take shots at them?

[Taverner]

33. I think that statement is more about the Government

And they do hold a very low value of life. Cases in point: Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution, Korean War, Invasion of Vietnam, Tienanmen Square Massacre...

[catgirl]

54. They value animals lives this way....

What's the saying? You can judge a society by the way it treats it's animals.

[Quantess]

83. yep.

[acmavm]

79. Their government does not now, nor has it ever, valued the lives of

the peasantry. Neither does ours anymore. Nor do the rulers of Sudan. No one said that was exclusive to the Chinese. You read too much into a statement. Read up on their history, their cruel wars, their mass executions of prisoners.

[catgirl]

53. Yes, to keep him quiet.

The Olympics, the HUGE profits from exports.........

[Hekate]

61. ...and his organs harvested...

A death sentence seems to be a fairly common fate for white-collar criminals in China -- and they are becoming a (ahem) good source for transplantable organs.
:scared:

Hekate

[MidwestTransplant]

8. I bet a certain former Gov. of Texas would agree with that system.

[David__77]

10. All death sentences in China have an appeal to the high court.

That said, it's largely a formality as demonstrated by the speed and regularity with which such sentences are upheld. There is a small faction within the state and opinion elite that favors abolishing the death penalty, but I don't think they'll gain ground until "social order" is achieved and the party is purged of its most corrupt elements. I do not think that will happen any time soon, if at all.

[Codeine]

74. At least the "corrupt elements"

that the party leadership don't like. Let's not paint this as an act of judicial purity.

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

2. So, It's all taken care of and wrapped up nice and tight.

Nothing to see here, just move on along Folks.....

~My thought ~Not.

[candice]

3. In the BBC "article" on this topic, it was stated that > 60 % of the Chinese

don't trust the safety of their drugs and food supply. From what our pets have experienced and we have learned recently, I can understand why.

[lovuian]

5. China had to do something this guy was a murderer

he was killing people

China has a real problem Trust is Broken with the people

[Art_from_Ark]

6. Yeah, shut him up

so he can't squeal on higher-ups who might also been involved

[nedbal]

58. We all know there will be many more tainted products fron China

[bitchkitty]

13. China had to do something? Maybe.

But I think the world has to do something about China, if this excerpt is to be believed (and I believe it).

"China's critics contend that the transition from firing squads to injections in death vans facilitates an illegal trade in prisoners' organs.

Injections leave the whole body intact and require participation of doctors. Organs can "be extracted in a speedier and more effective way than if the prisoner is shot," says Mark Allison, East Asia researcher at Amnesty International in Hong Kong. "We have gathered strong evidence suggesting the involvement of (Chinese) police, courts and hospitals in the organ trade."

I remember, in the not too distant past, that people's dogs were being clubbed to death in front of them on the street, in Beijing I believe. The government had decided that dogs were a health menace, because there were so many strays on the street.

I thought then that the government in China is devoid of compassion and respect for life. This confirms my belief.

[wickerwoman]

24. Just a point of fact:

The dogs that were killed were in a rural province of Guangdong where hundreds of people die of rabies each year. A three year old girl was killed by a rabid dog and local non-government organized mobs responded by killing strays (and since guns are banned in China and they couldn't afford lethal injections, they used clubs). If you think it would go down much differently in rural Arkansas, I fear you greatly overestimate behaviour in "civilized" countries.

[alcibiades_mystery]

27. Best post of the day

[catgirl]

56. No, it wasn't just "strays" that were killed

The authorities went door to door and took peoples pets from them.
I saw heart wrenching photos of people desperately clinging onto their
dogs, while stone-faced government workers wrested them away. It's too
bad we don't have a Speigel (german magazine) equivalent here. We americans
miss a lot because of our pathetic news coverage.

[wickerwoman]

63. Yes, it got out of control

and some pets were killed. But they were not acting in a capacity as "government workers" any more than Klan-affiliated policemen who killed civil rights workers were "stone-faced" representatives of the U.S. government. They were local yokels caught up in a mob. And the point remains that it didn't happen because it was China or because the Chinese government has no respect for life. It happened in a piss poor part of the world where dying of rabies is a legitimate fear. It never ceases to amaze me how people are eager to write off entire countries as barbarians with no understanding whatsoever of context. Trust me, if your neighbor's three year old was mauled by a rabid dog I don't think you'd see a greatly different reaction.

[catgirl]

67. I was merely correcting a mis-statement

Where did I write off the entire country of China as barbaric? Sheesh.

[bitchkitty]

66. Maybe - I haven't lived in Arkansas.

But I have lived in rural Kentucky and Georgia, and anyone coming to the door of peoples' homes, or approaching them in the street with the intent to kill their dog would be clubbed or shot themselves.

I admit that I'm extremely biased in favor of canines, and I did not know that it was a rural province - regardless, killing over 50,000 dogs, even dogs with owners that loved them, dogs that were immunized, is over the top - compassionless, stupid, and cruel. I probably shouldn't have mentioned it, though - it's a very small thing compared to the issue of organ trade.

[wickerwoman]

82. Mobs are compassionless, stupid and cruel.

I'm not disputing that. I love dogs too and have several cats and would be devastated if anything happened to them. But you have to look at where these people live... hundreds of people in their province die of rabies every year. It's basic human nature to want to protect yourself and your children from crazed, wild animals.

My point is that the actions of a mob in some hick town in the middle of nowhere don't necessarily reflect government policy... or anything other than the basic sometimes completely irrational human need to protect one's family.

Trust me, if you had hundreds of rabid animals running around Kentucky or Georgia and people dying left and right and no access to vaccines or medicine, I seriously doubt people would act differently. Would that reflect of the level of civilization of the U.S. government?

[catgirl]

55. There were a lot of murderers here

This is their way of burying it. Done.

[MidwestTransplant]

7. Notice he was fired in 2005. His successor doesn't seem to have done a bang up job either.

[nedbal]

34. they have to shoot a few more drug regulators, then there will be a big change

[Miss Chybil]

11. Hmmph! Here he would have gotten the Medal of Freedom and a "Heck of a job!" nt

[Big Pappa]

12. Pretty harsh sentence for a bribe.

n/t

[catgirl]

57. "A" bribe?

Try killing countless people and thousands of pets. I'm against the death penalty
because innocent people have died, but I won't shed a tear for this greedy bastard.

[nedbal]

59. It's the results of the bribe that deserves the punishment he got

[pitohui]

70. bribes kill, hundreds died in panama from chinese medicine w. poison in it EOM

link to one story about it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/world/americas/06poison.html?ex=1180670400&en=0d2a2a3bfc3c7c0b&ei=5070

lots of kids killed in china itself too

and we are whining about poison in the pet food? the poison is in basic medicines also

this dude won't be missed on planet earth

[Vidar]

15. If we applied the same standards, most of our politicians would be dead.

Something to think about.

[Demeter]

62. Don't Be Such A Tease! It's Cruel!

[Divernan]

16. China Sentences Former Drug Regulator to Death

Source: International Herald Tribune

SHANGHAI: The former head of China's top food and drug safety agency was sentenced to death Tuesday after pleading guilty to corruption and accepting bribes, according to the state-controlled news media.

Zheng Xiaoyu, who served as director of China's Food & Drug Administration from its founding in 1998 until mid 2005, was detained in February as part of a government investigation into the agency that is supposed to be the nation's food and drug watchdog.

The unusually harsh sentence for the former director comes at a time of heightened concerns about the quality and safety of China's food and drug system after a series of 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 (EMPHASIS ADDED) ingredients to the United States, triggering one of the largest pet food recalls in United States history.



Read more: http://www.iht.com/pages/index.php

[skids]

17. I am by no means in favor of the death penalty...

...nor do I trust the Chinese Govt to have honestly done this for the reason they claim.

But on the other hand, it is refreshing to see a "white collar criminal" dealt with harshly, compared to the slap on the wrist and go about your way thing we seem to have going on in this country.

[Divernan]

18. Many people around the world have died because of this man's actions.

The Chinese governnment may be trying to pre-empt legal actions against it by the many victims or their survivors. As head of China's FDA, this man took at least $800,000 in bribes to approve drug production licenses. China is now reviewing over 170,000 production licenses (for exported food and drugs, as well as those consumed in China) issued by this agency in the last 10 years. (more from article)

"The nation'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 that 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 because of rampant counterfeiting and phony food and drugs. For instance, last year 11 people died in China after being treated with an injection tainted by a fake chemical. And 6 people died and 80 others fell ill after taking an antibiotic that was produced with a "substandard disinfectant."

Small Chinese drug makers have long been accused of manufacturing phony or substandard drugs and marketing them to the nation's hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. And mass food poisonings involving tainted food products are common. The Chinese government, however, has stepped up its patrols in recent weeks, announcing a series of measures aimed at strengthening food and drug safety and cracking down on counterfeiting operations.

Tuesday, the government said it was preparing to release its first regulation on nationwide food recalls. The government also said it would crack down on food products that are being illegally exported, bypassing food inspections.

[skids]

20. And if this happenned in the U.S. the maximum sentence would be...?

I'm not saying harsh punishment is not warranted, just that I'll never be able to make that call from this distance and especially considering the level of corruption there who's to say he isn't being sent up as a patsy.

But even if a case like this occurred here, what could we honestly expect... 5 years in club fed?

[Divernan]

21. I don't favor the death penalty either - this man is part of a whole culture of corruption.

No doubt in my mind that he is being made a scapegoat by the Chineses government because of the potential economic impact of countries banning importation of Chinese foods and medicines.

[pitohui]

72. well the culture of corruption won't change if it isn't prosecuted

i don't generally favor the death penalty either but there is no reason that this man needs to be on this planet and we don't yet have the technology to send him to break rocks on an asteroid circling some distant solar system

[nedbal]

64. It used to be 5 years in club fed, now I think it would be decades???

[pitohui]

71. rico violation resulting in several hundred deaths = many lifetimes in prison or death penalty

this guy would never get out in the usa either if he were properly prosecuted for all the people who were killed as a result of his actions

hundreds killed in panama, tens of thousands (maybe more) injured or killed in china itself

at some point, mass murder needs to be dealth with and prosecuted, even if it is mass murder for profit

i do not believe this man would have received an easy sentence in either the usa or panama

[loudsue]

19. Accountability ?

I think China's government STINKS, and is DANGEROUS, and I'm glad we're not that far gone YET. But I do think it's high time that criminals in our government AND CORPORATIONS were held TRULY and HARSHLY accountable for the sleeze they perpetuate in this country. It would only take a couple of executions before things started getting straightened out.

:kick::kick::kick:

[Malidictus Maximus]

78. Agreed

A few dozen quick executions of our white collar criminals would make this country a much better place.

[kurth]

22. China FDA guy is dead. Problem is solved. Chinese products are safe

NOT.

[nolabels]

25. The other end also should be scrutinized

The republicans and * have gutted many of the barriers that protected consumers from unsafe imported goods. If there wasn't a market for sub-par and shoddy goods they wouldn't be produced :think:

It is also impossible to believe just one or two people taking bribes are involved here. Just like in the USA, it would have to take a whole entrenched culture to get people thinking that profit comes before peoples lives and safety.

[candice]

31. Importers should bear the cost of verifying and showing verification...

...and subsidizing the FDA to double-check. Of course if we can't re-import drugs made in U.S.A. back from Canada because of safety concerns, how can we import all of these over the counter drugs, such as contact lens solutions, and most of our vitamins and supplements from China?

[radicalcapitalist]

23. Let's enact similar legislation for America's government workers.

[nedbal]

26. they don't play around!

[Blue_Tires]

28. do they still send a family a bill for the bullet used in the execution?

or was that just an urban legend?

[w4rma]

29. Dead men don't talk. You can bet he didn't do all that by himself. (nt)

[ohio2007]

32. And believe you me, he's getting off easy

the sooner he's done in, the better the chance is he won't be able to blow the whistle on other corrupt officials in an appeal.

/sarc.

btw,
CHina has a bureaucracy that rivals the entire population of England.
This almost could have led to a purge.

[BornagainDUer]

35. This doesn't seem to have much effect on corruption

It is rampant in China on many levels.

[Demeter]

36. Death penalty for China official

Source: BBC


Death penalty for China official

China has sentenced the former head of the State Food and Drug Administration to death after he was convicted of corruption, state media has reported. Zheng Xiaoyu was convicted on charges of taking bribes and of dereliction of duty, Xinhua news agency reported.

The sentence is unusually harsh for a senior figure, but Zheng could have his sentence reduced to life on appeal.

The verdict came as the government announced plans for the first ever recall system of unsafe food products.

Beijing has been under pressure to act over increasing concern both at home and abroad about the poor standards of Chinese-produced food and medicines.



Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6699441.stm

[napi21]

37. Gotta hand it to those Chinese, they don't play around!

While we in the US grump and growel about OUR FDA and all the drugs that have been recalled,the big mess with the pet food, and that same melamine could have entered the human food supply, the Chinese tried the head of THEIR FDA, convicted him, and sentenced him already!

I don't agree with the death penalty, but I also don't agree with how much WE seem to ignore incompetence either!

[Buzz Clik]

38. Yep, And it fixed their quality assurance problems...

not!

[Coventina]

41. Yeah, he was convicted for embarrassing the gov't, not the poor quality

of China's products.

I doubt anything will actually change.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

42. Farr guy.

OK, you can flame me now.

[nedbal]

60. you are correct, the products from China will not change

[Lobster Martini]

39. Send us lousy pet food -- Die!

Fluffy's revenge.

[librechik]

40. this sends a strong message about sending the customer bad food

doesn't it?

Yikes. Hope they clean up their act now, but corruption in China seems inevitable, given its history.

[MADem]

43. China sentences former food and drugs chief to death

Source: Guardian, UK

Jonathan Watts in Beijing
Tuesday May 29, 2007
Guardian Unlimited


The disgraced head of China's food and drug agency was sentenced to death today amid a wave of consumer safety scandals that have rippled across the world.

Zheng Xiaoyu was found guilty of accepting 6.5m yuan (£433,000) worth of bribes from pharmaceutical companies to expedite the approval of new drugs.


Underscoring the state's determination to crackdown on corruption and consumer safety violations, he is the most senior official to receive the death penalty in seven years....The unusually harsh penalty may have been handed down to reassure foreign as well as Chinese consumers that the government is taking action.


Earlier this month, Australia, Panama and the Dominican Republic recalled thousands of tubes of Chinese-made toothpaste that allegedly contained dangerous levels of diethylene glycol, a toxin...In April, the US government blamed tainted pet food from China for the fatal poisoning of several dogs and cats. ...





Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,,2090404,00.html

---

Gee, anyone feeling "reassured" by this? I must say, it's an interesting fantasy to think about killing off government officials if they don't perform adequately, but it's not confidence-inspiring, IMO.

[nannah]

44. sounds like accountability to me.

in america, discraced officials with blood on their hands get a medal. that seems disturbing to me

[Deja Q]

48. Well, this is food - peoples' lives depend on it. One mistake will hurt or kill many,

and no doubt the punishment will show anyone that to take any bribes (as was suggested) or do anything wrong would result in his own execution as well.

I'm not keen on China's form of government (by Republican vietnam vet friend told me a lot), but I agree with their response to this. And maybe China is changing for the future, which puts my vietnam vet friend in the "wrong" category too.)

Of course, all this could be part of a game - but too much open-mindedness leads to confusion. We'll wait and see what happens next.

[Double T]

45. Never will trust china or its corrupt corporations that do business........

with our corrupt corporations.

[svpadgham]

46. I'm a bit torn on this one....

On one hand I don't generally agree with the death penalty, but on the other hand I think this should be one of the fears of corrupt officials in our government. They shouldn't just have to "go away for a while," and then come back with a sweet book deal and a talk show on CNN, FauXNews, or the AM radio stations ala G. Gordon Liddy or Ollie North.

[MissB]

47. I'm definitely not "reassured" by this step.

It'll just cause the next guy to be more careful when accepting bribes.

[eppur_se_muova]

49. more from BBC ...

The verdict came as the government announced plans for the first ever recall system of unsafe food products.

Beijing has been under pressure to act over increasing concern both at home and abroad about the poor standards of Chinese-produced food and medicines.
***
On Tuesday, as Zheng was sentenced, the government said a new recall process targeting "potentially dangerous and unapproved food products" would be brought in by the end of the year.

"All domestic and foreign food producers and distributors will be obliged to follow the system," Wu Jianping, of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, was quoted as saying.

FIRST EVER ? In other words, they've NEVER had a system in place previously to recall defective or fraudulent products. China will need decades to catch up to the other industrial nations in this regard, assuming they intend to.

[Endangered Specie]

50. Too bad we can't do that here...

[Jack Rabbit]

51. It is very unfortunate that Mr. Zheng was not an American

Taking brinbes? Just generally relaxing standards in favor of industry?

No problem in America.

The Bush administration will only hire incompetents who favor industry and think regulations are just pesky (for a minimum amont of money raised and contributed to the GOP). If Mr. Zheng had done that in the good ole US of A and Bush would have given him the Medal of Freedom.

Heckuva job, Zengo!

[catgirl]

52. Here's another link

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070529/ap_on_re_as/china_tainted_food

BEIJING - China's former top drug regulator was sentenced to death Tuesday in an unusually harsh punishment for taking bribes to approve substandard medicines, including an antibiotic blamed for at least 10 deaths.

Seeking to address broadening concerns over food, the government also announced plans for its first recall system for unsafe products.

The developments are among the most dramatic steps Beijing has taken to address domestic and international alarm over shoddy and unsafe Chinese goods — from pet food ingredients and toothpaste mixed with induso trial chemicals to tainted antibiotics.

Beijing's No. 1 Intermediate People's Court convicted Zheng Xiaoyu of taking bribes in cash and gifts worth more than $832,000 while he was director of the State Food and Drug Administration, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Those bribes allowed eight companies to get around drug approval standards, it said.

Zheng also failed to make "careful arrangements for the supervision of medicine production, which is of critical importance to people's lives," Xinhua said, citing the court. Under his watch, six types of medicine approved were fake and pharmaceutical companies got away with using false documents to apply for approvals, it said. No other details were given.

[bleedingheart]

65. makes me wonder how much more poisons we import from China

[pitohui]

69. hundreds of people in panama were killed by bad chinese medicine

there was a story about it in the new york times, otherwise, it got almost no play here while we had balls to the walls coverage of dead pets from bad chinese pet food

we have no idea how many people were killed by this person's actions, wouldn't be surprised if there were many thousands

china needs to act strongly to put a stop to this

dude took money to let people (and pets) be poisoned, that's about as low as you can get

found a link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/world/americas/06poison.html?ex=1180670400&en=0d2a2a3bfc3c7c0b&ei=5070

they sold damn antifreeze as glycerine to put in kid's medicines:

Panama is the most recent victim. Last year, government officials there unwittingly mixed diethylene glycol into 260,000 bottles of cold medicine — with devastating results. Families have reported 365 deaths from the poison, 100 of which have been confirmed so far. With the onset of the rainy season, investigators are racing to exhume as many potential victims as possible before bodies decompose even more.

[bleedingheart]

73. the FDA was created in part because anti-freeze was used

to mix medication way back....

apparently people in the South were not keen on taking injections of sulfa based medicines so these scientists decided to make a mixture that could dispense the sulfa orally...so they wanted to come up with a syrup...the only thing that worked initially was ethylene glycol which kills...this article below talks about this...I saw a great documentary on this years ago as well.


http://ashujo.wordpress.com/tag/hager/

[mvd]

68. Strict penalties for this kind of thing = good

Death penalty = bad

Perhaps the U.S. can therefore increase penalties and have a happy medium between the Bush mentality for his cronies and the DP.

[Orsino]

75. Somewhere between Chinese death sentences...

...and American laissez-faire for the executive class lies sane policy.

[benld74]

76. MEANWHILE WHILE OUR GOV"T OFFICIALS, F*CK UP, they

deny,deny,deny,spin,spin,spin and then quit to work for private indusgtry at over 5 times the amount they made with the gov't.

[progressivebydesign]

77. Speaking of scary Chinese imports... I'm boycotting Trader Joes, they're Walmart now.

To see why, just visit your local TJs and take a look at the food they're importing (Cheaply) from China now. Think American farmers are producing those frozen veggies there at TJs? Nope.. mostly imported. HOw about the canned vegetables? China again. How about some of the frozen entrees? Oops! China too!

Lack of regulatory oversight for food production in China, lack of FDA inspections at the ports (only a fraction gets inspected), total disregard for American farmers, contributing to global warming by IMPORTING produce and other foods that WERE/ARE produced in America.

Trader Joes used to be cool. Now they are the Walmart of specialty grocers. Take a trip down the frozen veggies aisle, look at the fresh produce, look at the canned foods. Then let TJ know what you think of their jeopardizing your health, the health of American food producers, and the health of the Earth. Anything for a buck.. First it was Fig Newtons, something so very American, being produced by Kraft in MEXICO. Now Trader Joes.

[Rainscents]

80. I never EVER trusted TJ!

My gut instinct was right!!! I only shop at co-op, they buy all the fresh products from local or from California in the winter month. California has the strictest organic stander in whole country.

[BikeWriter]

81. Conservative family values.