China Executes Former Head of FDA

With the 2008 Olympic games less than a year away, and Beijing being forced to answer a mountain of questions about the safety of food and meals to be provided to athletes, coaches, and media, the Chinese government made a bold statement when it executed the former head of the Food and Drug Administration who received large cash payments in exchange for approving fake medicine. With so much in the media today about safety concerns with recalls happening almost every day, Chinese officials have been forced to make a strong push to promote the safety of food and increase the safeguards in place so that the questions national Olympic committees have can be put to rest.

Zheng Xiaoyu, who oversaw the Chinese Food and Drug Administration for eight years from 1997 to 2005, was found guilty of approving six drugs that had been untested and proved to be useless concoctions. Some drug makers were so bold or comfortable with the lax administration that they submitted false documents for approval. One such drug, an antibiotic was the cause of at least ten deaths in China. Concern for the drugs started in Panama of all places when over thirty people died after taking what they thought was glycerin. What they did not know was that the drugs contained an agent called diethylene glycol, a chemical mixture used in antifreeze. Imported from China this drug was made available and ruled as the cause for all the deaths in question. In El Salvador, shipments of toothpaste were held at customs after testing revealed the same substance was in two different toothpaste products.

In Xiaoyu, China's government took a hardline as the world watches to see if Beijing takes the risk of contaminated foods seriously or not. Zheng was found guilty of receiving over $800,000 worth of cash and gifts in exchange for his approval of untested drugs. Fifteen days after being convicted and having his appeal rejected, Zheng was executed. Cao Wenzhuang, a lieutenant of Zheng Xiaoyu was also sentenced to death but was given a two-year reprieve to convince officials he was worthy of serving life in prison. The director of registration for the Chinese Food and Drug Administration, Cao was found guilty of taking bribes and dereliction of duties.

It is the duty of the Food and Drug Administration to govern as much as possible the production, processing, packaging, storing, and transporting of food and drugs within a country's borders. With China still a developing country in structure, its policing has not kept up with its growth and that has created the sort of problems Olympic committees are having as China faces its grandest opportunity to showcase itself to the world, the 2008 Olympic Games.

The new standards being implemented by the Chinese FDA are about ensuring Olympic committee members that the safeguards will be in place so that food consumed in the Olympic village and made by Chinese food suppliers will not trigger a positive drug tests for banned performance-enhancing drugs. The bulk of China's recent food problems stem from ingredients added to food, including flavoring and artificial coloring.

In August of 2008, 10,000 Olympic athletes and 500,000 foreign visitors will descend on Beijing for two weeks while the Olympics are going on. Additionally, one million Chinese nationals will visit the Olympic area as well. Food that will be available for consumption by athletes, coaches and the media will be purchased from pre-selected vendors. The items will be wrapped in packaging that is tamper-proof and delivered by vehicles that will be equipped with global positioning systems. The kitchens where the food will be prepared as well as the areas where the food will be housed will be the benefactor of 24-hour security. Twenty-four hours before food is available, mice will be served the food and tested for any last second security breaches before being placed out in the Olympic Village food concourse areas. This, all because of the concern about athletes testing positive for a substance that has been added in the food process by a supplier.

With so little time until the start of the Olympic Games, the execution of Zheng Xiaoyu should come as no surprise as communist-based China will stop at nothing to ensure that it looks its absolute best when the Olympic Games call Beijing home in the summer of 2008.