How China Watches the Drug Watchers

This AP story makes me curious what the Chinese government will do to the guy who let bad pet food hit the shelves:

China's former top drug regulator was sentenced to death Tuesday in an unusually harsh punishment for taking bribes to approve substandard medicines, including an antibiotic blamed for at least 10 deaths.

The sentence was levied by "Beijing's No. 1 Intermediate People's Court," which really makes you wonder how tough the advanced people's court can be.

Whole story here.

Comments

That Crazee Statist Dave W. | May 29, 2007, 9:32am | #

back with another communistical idea thought up just to drive those Reasonheds nutz:

I propose that toothpaste, and other food and personal care products, be required by the government to be prominently labeled with the nation of origin.

Russell | May 29, 2007, 9:34am | #

"Advanced" ?

If continuity of Marxspeak in the PRC is any guide , you don't want to know.

In the Soviet Union , hydrogen bombs were produced by The Ministry Of Medium Machinery

Timothy | May 29, 2007, 9:35am | #

Advanced People's Court uses the crypt-keeper-like visage of Judge Wapner, it is truly a nightmare to behold.

That Crazee Statist Dave W. | May 29, 2007, 9:49am | #

I had wanted to link to a previous post here about a proposal I made to label products according to how humane the prevailing employment standards are where the product is made. That proposal would prevent China from imposing the death penalty for crimes of commerce. I mean, this guy kind of deserves it, but there are less sympathetic employment related death penalty cases in China, and we consumers probably wouldn't put up with it if we were forced to think about that on a regular basis.

Sadly, it looks like that previous post may have been wiped by Mr. Radley Balko as part of his punishment for me.

LarryA | May 29, 2007, 9:57am | #

I propose that toothpaste, and other food and personal care products, be required by the government to be prominently labeled with the nation of origin.

Which one? You could have a different country of origin for each ingredient, and another for each country where each ingredient was refined/distilled/purified/etc., and another where the ingredients were combined or the product was modified.

A five quart package of toothpaste 90% covered by required labels?

Jennifer | May 29, 2007, 10:01am | #

Sadly, it looks like that previous post may have been wiped by Mr. Radley Balko as part of his punishment for me.

You mean, "as part of his reward for me."

John | May 29, 2007, 10:02am | #

"Beijing's No. 1 Intermediate People's Court,"


Sounds like a bad Asian reality show. There is something utterly comical about the communist use of "People's" this or that. Granted the term is associated with some really dark things. But I can't help associate it with that scene "Volunteers" where John Candy, who had been brainwashed by the communists, talks about driving the "people's truck" spreading the word until they run out of the "people's gas".

David | May 29, 2007, 10:04am | #

A five quart package of toothpaste 90% covered by required labels?

That people won't bother to read anyway.

Good for the Chinese. Maybe the U.S. should start executing bureaucrats and officials who abuse their authority. At least it would make them think twice.

From Wikipedia | May 29, 2007, 10:05am | #

A five quart package of toothpaste 90% covered by required labels?

1. I wouldn't have a problem with that. It would be more useful to me than the current labelling is.

2. There would have to be some common sense rules about how far back in the production chain you go. These common sense rules should probably not be drafted by a corporatarian. There would even be commonsense rules about how far forward you go. For example, I don't particularly care where the toothpaste went after the tube was safety sealed.

3. I doubt the list would ever be longer than the ingredients list, which wouldn't mean 90% of the package is taken up with labeling anyway.

4. The nations could be color coded corresponding to how bad they whip the employees. Blood red would be reserved for the cruelest nations.

Phil Collins | May 29, 2007, 10:07am | #

You mean, "as part of his reward for me."

You go back and read old thds?! I thought I was the only one with that kind institutional memory facility 'round here.

Dave W. | May 29, 2007, 10:14am | #

That people won't bother to read anyway.

they would sometimes:

http://news.google.ca/news?hl=en&ned=ca&ie=UTF-8&ncl=1116751621

thoreau | May 29, 2007, 10:30am | #

Beijing's No. 1 Intermediate People's Court

The Chinese aren't very good at naming their institutions.

I have a friend who got his Masters from Beijing Normal University. It's apparently a pretty good school, even if not quite as good as Peking University [I don't why some school names use "Peking" and others "Beijing"] and Tsinghua University. So a more accurate name would be "Beijing Above Average University."

Lamar | May 29, 2007, 10:35am | #

Heckuva job, Zheng Xiaoyu.

Violet Crunch | May 29, 2007, 10:43am | #

ok, who's the psychic???

"Nicaraguan police seized 6,000 tubes of a Chinese-made toothpaste suspected of containing a chemical that killed at least 51 people in nearby Panama last year." (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-nicaragua-tainted-toothpaste,1,7946449.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true)

Dave W. | May 29, 2007, 10:44am | #

Good for the Chinese. Maybe the U.S. should start executing bureaucrats and officials who abuse their authority. At least it would make them think twice.

And what punishment for the people who gave him the bribes?

Lamar | May 29, 2007, 10:45am | #

"And what punishment for the people who gave him the bribes?"

They get little Chinese flags because, as we all know, if you're not cheatin', you're not tryin'.

rhywun | May 29, 2007, 10:51am | #

I don't why some school names use "Peking" and others "Beijing"

Maybe the latter was established before the rise of Pinyin (1950s), and before "Peking" was replaced with "Beijing". (You do know that Normal schools are teaching colleges, right?)

makes me curious what the Chinese government will do to the guy who let bad pet food hit the shelves

If they can narrow the blame down to one or two people, that person or persons will likely die. Or "disappear".

thoreau | May 29, 2007, 10:53am | #

(You do know that Normal schools are teaching colleges, right?)

Didn't know that. Thanks.

rhywun | May 29, 2007, 10:58am | #

Yeah, I think the SUNY colleges here in New York were all originally "Normal" schools in the 1800s. Strange little factoids like that stick in my head.

j | May 29, 2007, 11:00am | #

China's executing regulators?

Although I would prefer life-in-prison, it must be said that perhaps China's judicial system is more just than ours.

VM | May 29, 2007, 11:00am | #

*thinks of SUNY Siberia (Potsdam). shudders.*

Dave W. | May 29, 2007, 11:00am | #

Harpur College wasn't.

Dave W. | May 29, 2007, 11:03am | #

If they can narrow the blame down to one or two people, that person or persons will likely die. Or "disappear".

Or bribe the appropriate official so that somebody else gets blamed and executed.

Hug a lawyer today!

Rex Rhino | May 29, 2007, 11:23am | #

Which one? You could have a different country of origin for each ingredient, and another for each country where each ingredient was refined/distilled/purified/etc., and another where the ingredients were combined or the product was modified.

A five quart package of toothpaste 90% covered by required labels?

Yeah, and then imagine this kind of law in Canada, where all that information would have to be written in English and French!

But, as a side note on low-quality Chinese medicinal products. Many years ago I purchase a package of cold medicine at a dollar store in the U.S., as a joke. The package was in english, but it had no safety information, no instructions for use, no FDA numbers, nothing except a big logo and label on both sides of the box, and a small label "made in China".

I kept it for a long time to show to people as a joke. But one day when I had a very bad cold, and didn't have any other medicine and was so sick I didn't feel like leaving the house, I took a couple tablets. My cold was cured within 2 hours. No joke! It was a miracle tonic!

I have a feeling that medicines can be made a lot more effective, if you don't have to worry about random people suffering liver failure and dying and stuff. I suppose if the medicine had made me sick, I might be pissed off, but people need to know there *IS* a trade-off. Making drugs safer definitly makes a lot of drugs less effective. While I suppose I want my cold medicine to err on the safe side, if I was a cancer patient or AIDS patent, I want the super powerful Chinese pills.

smacky | May 29, 2007, 11:27am | #

The sentence was levied by "Beijing's No. 1 Intermediate People's Court," which really makes you wonder how tough the advanced people's court can be.

The Remedial People's Court in China is the most lenient -- they are still learning how to read, so they can't technically sentence anyone. The sentences they administer are just used to practice their penmanship and spelling and aren't legally enforced.


A five quart package of toothpaste 90% covered by required labels?

Five quarts? Wow...it sounds like your household goes through a lot of toothpaste. Good for you and your sparkly, white teeth.
I didn't even know that they sold toothpaste in quantities that large.

David | May 29, 2007, 11:29am | #

And what punishment for the people who gave him the bribes?

They are forced to listen to Farces Wanna Mo's Greatest Hits album on an endless loop. Truly a fate worse than death.

Dave W. | May 29, 2007, 11:29am | #

AIDS patent

Actually in the case of AIDS drugs they basically waived the safety showing because of the deadliness of AIDS. It is now kind of recognized that first generation AIDS drugs ended up doing a lot more harm than good as a result.

After about 10 years of killing people with AIDS drugs, they supposedly improved the drugs to the point where they do more good than harm. However, the proof of this, as far as I can tell from the wikipedia and the references cited therein, is based on computer models, rather than actually comparing the new drugs with a placebo in HIV+ people.

Dave W. | May 29, 2007, 11:33am | #

Truly a fate worse than death.

Linkee for the n00bs:
http://www.farceswannamo.com/1260/4692.html

M | May 29, 2007, 12:35pm | #

I propose that toothpaste, and other food and personal care products, be required by the government to be prominently labeled with the nation of origin.

Ivory Coast gets an unfair advantage for marketing penumbra.

R C Dean | May 29, 2007, 1:39pm | #

rather than actually comparing the new drugs with a placebo in HIV+ people.

Probably because the political climate around AIDS is so inflamed that no one would dare run a proper double blind study, under which half the patients would get no real treatment at all.

ed | May 29, 2007, 1:54pm | #

I rely on reputation.
Xo-Chen, or Colgate?
Hmmm......

Dave W. | May 29, 2007, 2:00pm | #

Probably because the political climate around AIDS is so inflamed that no one would dare run a proper double blind study, under which half the patients would get no real treatment at all.

1. Would have been preferable to killing all those people with bad drugs, which is what happened '87-'97.

2. the AZT placebo study was interesting and crooked. At four months, the AZT taker group had a much better survival rate (although this may have been due more to the extensive transfusions they required from the AZT than from the AZT itself) than the placebo taker group. So they started giving AZT to the placebo taker group. By 21 months the placebo taker group had accumulated the better survival rate(!!!). then they stopped tracking the patients (!!!). But the study was pretty much ruined by giving the placebo takers AZT. And AZT was on the market and killing poor suckers like Ryan White by this time. Your tax dollars at work.

3. I was just learning T. this stuf the other week at the highclearing. T. couldn't believe it!

Dave W. | May 29, 2007, 2:02pm | #

By 21 months the placebo taker group had accumulated the better survival rate(!!!).

Translation: the less AZT you had taken, the less likely you were to get AIDS and die.

Not sure if that part was clear.

Negev | May 29, 2007, 2:03pm | #

It is my understanding that this is the guy who let bad pet food hit the shelves (or, at least, the guy who's being blamed for it).

thoreau | May 29, 2007, 2:12pm | #

The Remedial People's Court in China is the most lenient -- they are still learning how to read, so they can't technically sentence anyone. The sentences they administer are just used to practice their penmanship and spelling and aren't legally enforced.

Smacky wins the thread.

Her reward is a custom filter installation, to make the rest of the thread (i.e. the part that doesn't involve her winning post) more enjoyable.

Dave W. | May 29, 2007, 2:13pm | #

It is funny to see so much condemnation of this convicted official at a website that also seems to think the FDA is unnecessary and should not exist. I don't really think the indignation squares well with articles like this:

http://www.reason.com/news/show/120370.html

kelley | May 29, 2007, 2:18pm | #

An op-ed article in today's L.A. Times addresses food ingredients from around the world, including Chinese petroleum in Twinkies.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-0e-ettlinger29may29,1,1761762.story

rhywun | May 29, 2007, 2:47pm | #

*thinks of SUNY Siberia (Potsdam). shudders.*

I had one of the best times of my childhood there. When I was 12 my mom let me visit my big brother in college for a few days during Thanksgiving break, by myself. That was so much fun. Can't take a little snow and ice? Wah!

rhywun | May 29, 2007, 2:52pm | #

Making drugs safer definitly makes a lot of drugs less effective.

Yeah, no kidding. I used to use TrimSpa until that bogus ephedrine scare. Now, the product doesn't work any more.

Lamar | May 29, 2007, 2:53pm | #

"It is funny to see so much condemnation of this convicted official at a website that also seems to think the FDA is unnecessary and should not exist."

Perhaps I'm missing something, but how does criticizing giving this guy the death penalty clash with the "less regulation, please" story on the FDA? Obviously there is a bit of a black eye for pro-regulation folks because this story highlights how corrupt the protectors can be.

Still, I think it is OK to be against both heightened gov't regulation and public crucifixions.

Dave W. | May 29, 2007, 3:07pm | #

Perhaps I'm missing something, but how does criticizing giving this guy the death penalty clash with the "less regulation, please" story on the FDA?

I am talking about the people here saying that this guy should get the death penalty, or at least saying that this isn't a big human rights problem in the grand scheme of things.*

I mean, I think this isn't a big human rights violation in the scheme of things, but i am kind of wishy-washy on FDA issues for a Hit'n'Runner.

FOOTNOTE:

* You might think this is bad, but Hugo Chavez shut down a whole tv station! I kid you not! the outrage!/sarc

crimethink | May 29, 2007, 3:53pm | #

That Crazee Statist Dave W.

Speaking of truth in labeling...way to lead by example!

fasgasdgf | May 29, 2007, 9:57pm | #

om and talk back to her like that, but since you set the table every night and do your homework and sent your aunt a birthday card, what the heck! You're a good kid. Your sins are forgiven automatically. No need for you to do any penance.糖尿病足 低血糖 胰岛素 血糖仪 胰岛素泵

Weird | May 30, 2007, 8:03am | #

Beijing's No. 1 Intermediate People's Court

Sure, the death sentence is rough, but it's still not as bad as having to talk to Doug Llewellyn before the commercial break.