China executes ex-chief of food and drug watchdog amid safety crisis

CHINA executed the former head of its food and drug watchdog yesterday for approving untested medicine in exchange for cash, the strongest signal yet from Beijing that it is serious about tackling its product safety crisis.

During Zheng Xiaoyu’s tenure from 1998 to 2005, the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) approved six medicines that turned out to be fake, and the drug-makers used falsified documents to apply for approvals, according to previous state media reports. One antibiotic caused at least 10 deaths.

His execution was confirmed by state television and the official Xinhua News Agency.

“The few corrupt officials of the SFDA are the shame of the whole system and their scandals have revealed some very serious problems,” agency spokeswoman, Yan Jiangying, said at a news conference held to highlight efforts to improve China’s track record on food and drug safety.

The government also assured athletes, coaches, officials, and others they could count on safe meals at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games, and that food would be free of substances that could trigger a positive result in tests for banned performance-enhancing drugs.

Zheng’s subordinate, Cao Wenzhuang, a former director of the SFDA’s drug registration department, was last week sentenced to death for accepting bribes and dereliction of duty.

He was given a two-year reprieve, a ruling which is usually commuted to life in prison if the convict is deemed to have reformed.

Zheng, 63, was convicted of taking cash and gifts worth $832,000 while chief of the SFDA.

His death sentence was unusually heavy even for China, believed to carry out more court-ordered executions than all nations combined.

Last year, dozens of people died in Panama after taking medicine contaminated with diethylene glycol imported from China. In the US this year, pet food containing Chinese wheat gluten tainted with the chemical melamine was blamed for the deaths of dogs and cats.