China executes food & drug admin Options

[impala454]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19686498/?GT1=10150

BEIJING - China executed a former director of its food and drug agency Tuesday for approving fake medicine in exchange for cash, illustrating how serious Beijing is about tackling product safety

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During Zheng Xiaoyu’s tenure as head of the State Food and Drug Administration from 1997 to 2006, the agency approved six untested drugs that turned out to be fake, and some drug-makers used falsified documents to apply for approvals, according to state media reports. One antibiotic caused the deaths of at least 10 people.

dang...

[dauss]

Mattel Recalls China-made Toys Over Lead-paint Concerns

Mattel Inc.'s Fisher-Price unit is recalling nearly 1 million Chinese-made toys, including popular licenses Elmo and Dora the Explorer, on concerns they may contain hazardous levels of lead paint, the third recall of toys made in China in recent weeks.

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Tainted Chinese ginger target of recall

A Gilroy company's recall of Chinese fresh ginger contaminated with a toxic pesticide is the latest scare involving imported ginger and other food products from China.

No illnesses were reported as of Monday, a day after California officials first issued a public warning to advise consumers against eating fresh Chinese ginger.

State and federal health officials are now working to determine how the ginger got into this country and how widely it has been sold. It's not the first time that contaminated Chinese ginger has been a problem.

U.S. port inspectors in Seattle have turned away shipments of Chinese ginger that contained pesticides in recent months, according to news reports. And Japanese authorities acknowledged this month that they mistakenly allowed 25 tons of Chinese ginger laced with pesticide into their country.