China takes aim at fake, dangerous drugs
Source: Reuters
(Adds food safety details, paragraphs 11-14) BEIJING, Feb 9 (Reuters) - China will step up its battle against fake and dangerous drugs, deepening a probe into pharmaceutical production following a scandal involving a former senior safety official, state media said on Friday. The government will review production licences for 170,000 drugs, focusing on those given out between 1999 and 2002, the official China Daily cited Vice-Premier Wu Yi as telling a high-level meeting. "Wu's action is seen as a major effort to reorganise the disorderly drug market -- the legacy of the disgraced former head of the State Food and Drug Administration, Zheng Xiaoyu," the newspaper said. Xinhua news agency said last month that Premier Wen Jiabao had ordered an investigation into allegations that Zheng took bribes. Xinhua cited a report by the Ministry of Supervision as saying Zheng had abused his position as head of the State Food and Drug Administration, a post he held from 1998 to 2005, by taking bribes. Fake or bad drugs have killed dozens in China in recent years and raised questions about safety. Public fears grew in 2004 when at least 13 babies died of malnutrition in Anhui province after being fed fake milk powder with no nutritional value. Wu said tough legal measures were needed against "unscrupulous drug authorities", the newspaper said, though she admitted the regulatory system had "severe loopholes". "Fines alone will not be enough. All those people should face the full force of the law," Wu was quoted as saying. The Beijing News added that the trial of a 33-year-old man accused of making fake versions of the bird flu drug Tamiflu had opened in Shanghai. Shanghai police arrested 10 people last May during a raid which netted more than 360,000 yuan ($46,470) of fake Tamiflu, the newspaper said. The drug had already been sold in Shanghai, the southern city of Shenzhen and even Taiwan. Another consumer issue in China has been food safety, and in recent years everything from honey to eggs and carp have come under suspicion, often for containing potentially carcinogenic or toxic substances. A new food safety law, to come into effect on May 1, mandates fines to up to 30,000 yuan for violators, the Ministry of Commerce said on its Web site (www.mofcom.gov.cn). Xu Jinghe, deputy head of the Department of Food Safety Supervision at the State Food and Drug Administration, told a Web cast on the central government's Web site (www.gov.cn) that he would work closer with legal authorities to tackle problems. "After many years of punishment and rectification, the general food safety situation in our country has changed for the better," Xu said. ($1=7.747 Yuan)
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