China needs to tackle problems with food and drug quality
otherwise it risks serious damage to its credibility on the
international stage, the country's top food and drug watchdog has
warned.
"Our country is facing a period with high risks for food
safety," Sun Xianze, a senior official with the State Food and Drug
Administration (SFDA), said.
Sun, director of the department of food safety coordination
under the SFDA, made the warning at a seminar on food and drug
supervision, held over the weekend.
He said authorities faced an "arduous task" ahead.
A series of Chinese food exports ranging from pet food to
seafood were alleged to contain hazardous chemicals, sparkling wide
concerns over the country's food and drug safety.
"The food security problems have impeded Chinese agri-products
and food many times in international trade, and damaged our
national credibility and image," Sun said.
To ensure better quality of food and drug products, the SFDA has
stepped up efforts to push unqualified producers out of the
market.
In a statement posted on its website, the SFDA said it had
revoked the production licenses of five drug manufacturers since
last July and also withdrawn the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)
certificates from 128 drug makers mainly in Jilin, Henan, Hainan,
Sichuan and Anhui provinces.
Eleven people were reported to have died last year after taking
a drug made by the Qiqihar No 2 Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, in northeast
China's Heilongjiang Province, one of the five
companies shut down by the SFDA.
Guangdong Baiyi Pharmaceutical was reported to have made
hemoglobin, which was infected with a virus carried by a donor.
The administration also revoked the production licenses of three
factories in Fujian, Henan and Hebei provinces.
The SFDA said it had increased the number of GMP inspectors in
pharmaceutical factories and monitored the production quality of
narcotic drug makers across the country during the first half of
this year.
In another development, the food and drug watchdog has suspended
a drug used to treat acute leukemia and rheumatoid arthritis after
several adverse reaction cases were found.
Several child patients suffering leukemia in three hospitals in
the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Shanghai
felt pain in their legs and even had difficulty walking after being
injected with the methotrexate, a drug produced by Shanghai Hualian
Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, according to the SFDA.
The SFDA has ordered the local food and drug administrations in
Guangxi and Shanghai to reevaluate the drugs.
(Xinhua News Agency July 9, 2007)