China's drug regulator gets death sentence for same crimes as FDA

How interesting that China's drug regulator gets the death sentence for the same crimes that the FDA here in the U.S. gets away with on a regular basis.

Source: China’s top drug regulator gets death sentence

China’s top drug regulator gets death sentence
Zheng convicted of accepting bribes, dereliction of duty

BEIJING - China’s former top drug regulator was sentenced to death Tuesday for taking bribes to approve untested medicines, as the country’s main quality control agency announced its first recall system targeting unsafe food products.

The developments are among the most dramatic steps Beijing has publicly taken to address domestic and international alarm over shoddy and unsafe Chinese goods — from pet-food ingredients and toothpaste mixed with industrial chemicals to tainted antibiotics.

The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court convicted Zheng Xiaoyu for taking bribes in cash and gifts worth more than $832,000 when he was director of the State Food and Drug Administration, the official Xinhua News Agency said. The court then issued the death penalty, the report said.

Another paragraph from the same article:

In one instance, an antibiotic approved by Zheng’s agency killed at least 10 patients last year before it was taken off the market.

Drugs here in the U.S. routinely kill thousands of people annually but we are told that the benefits outweigh the risks so it's ok.

Then again, FDA-approved pharmaceuticals are right now killing 100,000 Americans each year, even when used as directed. Just one drug, Vioxx, reportedly killed well over 50,000 Americans according to the FDA's own senior drug safety whistleblower, and yet the FDA voted to put that drug right back on the market!

Source: FDA approves pill that stops periods

Here are some interesting facts about the FDA:

Worked to keep deadly drugs on the market as long as possible before reluctantly pulling them (usually only after being sued by groups like Public Citizen). The astonishing story of Rezulin, a diabetes drug, is a good example.

Repeatedly banned and confiscated herbs and nutritional supplements that compete with prescription drugs. Ephedra, for example, was banned by the FDA based on a political agenda, not good science.

Conducted armed raids on alternative medicine clinics, confiscating computers, threatening alternative health practitioners, and scaring away patients. (See Tyranny in the USA: The true history of FDA raids on healers, vitamin shops and supplement companies)

Ordered the destruction of recipe books promoting stevia, a natural sweetener that competes with sales of aspartame (yes, the FDA actually ordered the books to be destroyed).

Been caught red-handed accepting bribes.

Voted to put deadly drugs right back on the market even after such drugs were recalled by their manufacturer.

Openly opposed the banning of junk food advertising to children during World Health Organization meetings.

Suppressed information about the harm caused by dangerous drugs in order to prevent the press and the public from learning the truth about them.

Attempted to silence its own drug safety scientists to prevent them from going public with the truth about dangerous drugs.

Censored scientific information about the benefits of natural foods like cherries by threatening cherry growers with legal action if they did not remove scientific information about cherries from their websites. (See FDA tyranny and the censorship of cherry health facts)

Pursued and shut down companies selling genuine cancer cures that provably work better than any prescription drug (such as Lane Labs' MGN-3).

Vigorously argued against making "optimal health" a goal of the Codex Alimentarius discussions, striking the phrase from the final report.

Rigged its drug safety review panels with decision makers who have substantial financial ties to drug companies, even while refusing to disclose such blatant conflicts of interest.

Planned, organized, and took part in armed "SWAT-style" raids on vitamin shops, pet food stores, and even a church.

Knowingly approved harmful food additives for widespread use in the food supply (such as aspartame, which has a rather dubious history and has been proven toxic in several studies), even when its own safety experts recommended denying approval.

Allowed the continued legal use of harmful, cancer-causing food additives in the national food supply such as sodium nitrite (which causes cancer and yet is intentionally added to nearly all processed meats).

Refused to ban a poisonous artificial fat from the food supply (hydrogenated oils) for decades, even though the World Health Organization urged member nations to outlaw the substance in 1978. Hydrogenated oils continue to harm infants, children, and adults today.

Source: Americans fed up with drug industry influence, FDA corruption, reveals remarkable Consumer Reports survey

When will anything be done about the medical corruption here in the U.S.?

Hmmm...despite the countless human rights violations so oft spoken of, here are the commie's doing what they should be doing: looking out for the people. I suspect the next drug regulator will do his job correctly.

As for fixing the western drug market, (the USA is not the only place where unsafe perscription drugs are pushed) I don't think it's going to happen any time soon. You see, those we have elected to protect us care more about dollars and cents than our health and well being.

Say what you want about state controlled industry and the evils of socialism/communism but at least profit will not be the sole motivation behind the health of the nation. Hell, we might actually start to see some cures soming out of China instead of the "treatments" we are blessed with over here.

In order to fix the situation, the parmaceutical industry must be taken out of private hands. I'm sorry all you hard-core free marketeers but you can't charge exorbitant fees to cure peoples illnesses and save their lives, and you can't push unsafe (aka failed) drugs to recoup your investments. In this instance a socialist model is the preferred one.

Whether anyone agrees with that assessment or not, I do not see change happening through proper channels. The pharmaceutical situation is merely one symptom of a greater illness that afflicts the west. When the people overthrow this increasingly corrupted system we live under then the drug situation will sort itself out; I wait patiently for the day.

I agree with much of what Orwell's Ghost has stated, re: the West's consciousless drug manufacturers and governments who kiss their backsides, to the detriment of those who trust and pay both.

However, the Chinese announcement that their drug-regulator would be executed (complete with televised images of the man in question standing stoically to attention in the dock, devoid of visible emotion as handcuffs were applied) sickened me.

Scapegoat-ism, for Western consumption, is how it appeared to me.

Do the Chinese officials actually believe we are as easily fooled as the Chinese populace?

Think again, China ! Blaming one individual for the deliberate crimes and scams of several hundred crooked officials has NEVER fooled audiences, not even back in the days of silent movies (which is where Chinese officials appear to derive their inspiration).

I agree with the chinese model!!Lets loose the bribery,graft,cronyism and such.Over-pricing of drugs and i suspect drugs that can help the suffering are also crimes committed by the F.D.A.They do these things as they know no one has the power or will to stop them.REFORM THE F.D.A.!!

Before we get too busy kissing China's butt over how awesome their sentencing was, keep in mind this is coming at a time when they're at a widely-known low point in regards to safety and the like. Granted, on some level, the sentence is due to the damage caused, but upon taking into account the larger picture that is China, it's looking more like they're killing him for damaged pride and making them look stupid rather than for a purely moral reason.

All that being said, looking at our own FDA, Orwell's Ghost put it best in that our system is indicative of a much larger set of problems, none of which can be tidily solved. Capitalism at its finest.

One of those situations where burning it all down and starting over is actually more sensible than restructuring.