China executes ex-head of food and drug agency

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Tighter safety procedures
Zheng’s death sentence was unusually severe even for China, which is believed to carry out more court-ordered executions than all other nations combined, and indicates the communist leadership’s determination to confront the country’s dire product safety record.

Zheng, 63, was convicted of taking cash and gifts worth $832,000 when he was in charge of the food and drug agency.

He was sentenced to death on May 29 and his appeal was rejected on June 12 by the Higher People’s Court of Beijing. China’s Supreme Court approved the sentence, saying Zheng “committed vile crimes and caused extreme harm to society.”

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“Although he confessed to some of the crimes of bribe-taking and returned some of the illegal income, it was not enough for leniency,” the court said.

Zheng’s execution Tuesday morning was confirmed by state television and the official Xinhua News Agency.

“We should seriously reflect and learn lessons from these cases. We should step up our efforts to ensure food and drug safety, which is what we are doing now and what we will do in the future,” Yan said.

Cao Wenzhuang, a former director of the food and drug agency’s drug registration department, was sentenced to death last week for accepting bribes and dereliction of duty. He was given a two-year reprieve, which usually means he can get life in prison if deemed to have reformed.

Yan said the food and drug agency was working to tighten its safety procedures and create a more transparent operating environment. The administration has announced a series of measures to tighten safety controls and closed factories where illegal chemicals or other problems were found.

13 companies banned from exporting
The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine posted on its Web site Monday the names of 13 companies that have been banned from exporting after their products were found to be substandard.

The products included rice cakes, cooked mushrooms, preserved pears and several kinds of seafood bound for Europe, Japan and North America. Problems included evasion of inspection and quarantine, as well as excessive bacteria and sulfur dioxide in the food or the presence of banned drugs.

Meanwhile, authorities promised to investigate water purity after a newspaper reported that more than half of the water coolers in Beijing use counterfeit branded water.

The Beijing Times reported that water jugs are filled with either tap water or purified water from small suppliers and sealed with bogus quality standard marks.

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The report said the practice is widespread because water from major suppliers can cost twice as much as water from other sources.

Wu Jianping, an official with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, noted that a May inspection of Beijing’s drinking water products found more than 96 percent were safe.

“Problems found with some individual cases cannot be interpreted to mean that the entire water industry has problems,” Wu said.

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