A Panamanian importer is mainly culpable for the deaths of up to
100 people last year who used cough syrup which had a toxic
chemical as an ingredient, Chinese officials said yesterday.
Wei Chuanzhong, deputy director of the General Administration of
Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), described
the chain of events uncovered in an investigation:
11,349 kilograms of "TD" glycerin, which can be used as a
substitute for glycerin in industrial use, was sold to a Spanish
company in 2003 before being forwarded to a Panamanian trader the
same year.
It contained 15 percent diethylene glycol, an industrial solvent
used in paint and antifreeze, while glycerin is a similar but more
expensive compound frequently used as syrup in medicines and in
toothpastes.
The Panamanian merchant later renamed the solvent as "pure
glycerin", tweaked the expiry date to indicate it would be valid
for another three years, and sold it to a cough syrup
manufacturer.
"The two trades were separate and the Chinese companies were not
informed of the resale," Wei told a press conference organized by
the State Council Information Office.
"The Panamanian trading company is mainly responsible because it
changed the scope of use and shelf-life of the product.
"By the time the Panamanian drug manufacturer used the chemical,
it had been expired for two years."
The Chinese companies had made it clear in their export
paperwork that the material was for industrial, not medical,
use.
The deaths started last summer; and in October, China launched
an investigation at the request of Panama. A preliminary probe
result was submitted by the year-end but some foreign media have
recently raised the issue, holding China directly responsible for
the deaths.
Some other scandals involving Chinese exports, such as the
"toxic" toothpaste and wheat gluten tainted with the chemical
melamine, have also shaken confidence in made-in-China
products.
China launched another investigation last month, whose results
Wei unveiled yesterday.
He also dismissed concerns about exported Chinese toothpaste
containing diethylene glycol, saying there was "no sound evidence"
to show that the chemical was dangerous in low concentrations.
Thousands of tubes of made-in-China "Mr. Cool" and "Excell"
branded toothpaste have been seized in the Dominican Republic,
Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua for containing diethylene glycol
ranging from 2.5 percent to 4.6 percent.
But he cited research by Chinese doctors which says toothpaste
containing up to 15.6 percent of diethylene glycol has been found
safe even after prolonged use.
"But to better safeguard the health of the public, we'll issue
clear guidelines for the use of diethylene glycol in toothpaste,"
he said.
Li Yuanping, director of the AQSIQ's food safety bureau, also
criticized some foreign media for stoking fears about the safety of
Chinese food and drugs.
He said they had "wantonly" reported on so-called unsafe Chinese
food products, but records show that more than 99 percent of
Chinese food exports to the United States in the last three years
had met quality standards about the same, or even higher, than the
equivalent figure for US food exports to China during the same
time.
He said China had found at least 35 shipments of frozen meat
from the US to China containing the salmonella bacteria and
veterinary medicine residue since last April.
"But one company's problem doesn't make it a country's problem,"
he said. "If some food is below standard, you can't say all the
country's food is unsafe - just like aircraft are believed to be
the safest mode of transport, but we do see air crashes some
times."
(China Daily June 1, 2007)