Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Compare and Contrast:
Both on the front page of today's NY Times.
Story 1:
China is executing the person responsible for letting tainted products through their regulatory process.
The Bush Administration is fighting to stop an American beef company from testing its own meat.
Story 1:
- China Sentences Former Drug Regulator to Death
May 29, 2007
By DAVID BARBOZA
SHANGHAI, May 29 -- The former head of China's top food and drug safety agency was sentenced to death today after pleading guilty to charges of corruption and accepting bribes, according to the state-controlled news media.
Zheng Xiaoyu, who served as commissioner of China's Food and Drug Administration from its founding in 1998 until the middle of 2005, was detained last February as part of a government investigation into corruption at the agency, which is supposed to be the nation's food and drug watchdog.
The unusually harsh sentence handed down today for Mr. Xiaoyu, 62, comes at a time of heightened concerns about the quality and safety of China's food and drug system.
Two Chinese companies were accused earlier this year of shipping contaminated pet food ingredients to the United States, touching off one of the largest pet food recalls in American history and leading to pressure on China to overhaul its food export controls.
The Chinese government is also investigating how diethylene glycol, a toxic chemical sometimes used in antifreeze, ended up in cough medicine and toothpaste sold in Latin America.
In Panama, more than 100 people died last year after consuming cough medicine laced with diethylene glycol, which had been shipped from China mislabeled as harmless syrup.
Last week, Chinese-made toothpaste tainted with the chemical was pulled off store shelves in Panama, the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.
The pet food and toothpaste recalls are beginning to pose a serious 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.
- US to Meatpackers: Don't Do Mad Cow Test
May 29, 2007
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration said Tuesday it will fight to keep meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease.
The Agriculture Department tests less than 1 percent of slaughtered cows for the disease, which can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. But Kansas-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef wants to test all of its cows.
Larger meat companies feared that move because, if Creekstone tested its meat and advertised it as safe, they might have to perform the expensive test, too.
A federal judge ruled in March that such tests must be allowed. The ruling was to take effect June 1, but the Agriculture Department said Tuesday it would appeal -- effectively delaying the testing until the court challenge plays out.
China is executing the person responsible for letting tainted products through their regulatory process.
The Bush Administration is fighting to stop an American beef company from testing its own meat.
