Beijing executes former chief of food and drug watchdog

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.

The execution of former State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) director Zheng Xiaoyu (鄭筱萸) was confirmed by state television and the official Xinhua news agency.

During Zheng's tenure from 1998 to 2005, his agency 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 the deaths of at least 10 people.

"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 (顏江瑛) said at a news conference yesterday held to highlight efforts to improve China's track record on food and drug safety.

Yan was asked to comment on Zheng's sentence and that of his subordinate, Cao Wenzhuang (曹文莊), a former director of SFDA's drug registration department who was last week sentenced to death for accepting bribes and dereliction of duty.

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

"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.

Zheng was convicted of taking cash and gifts worth 6.49 million yuan (US$832,000) when he was in charge of the SFDA.

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

Xinhua said Zheng, 63, was executed "with the approval of the Supreme People's Court."