Post by David Feder on Oct 9, 2008 16:26:43 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2008/10/10/world/asia/10china.html
China Bans Herbal Medicine Brand After 3 Deaths
By EDWARD WONG
Published: October 9, 2008
BEIJING — The Chinese government announced that it had banned the sale and use of one brand of an herbal medicine after three people injected with it died and three others fell seriously ill, revealing a new product safety issue even as the government is grappling with the scandal over tainted milk.
The State Food and Drug Administration posted a warning on its Web site late Wednesday, identifying the problem drug as a preparation of Siberian ginseng made by Wandashan Pharmaceutical, based in northeastern China. The agency said it had discovered two harmful batches of the medicine and urged people across China to report any problems with the product.
It was not immediately clear whether Wandashan marketed its products outside of China. A woman answering the phone at the Wandashan headquarters in the capital of Heilongjiang Province said the company had recalled all products containing the herb within 24 hours of receiving word from the government. She declined to give her name and said she could not provide more details because of an ongoing investigation.
The official Xinhua news agency reported that the six victims became ill after being injected around 10 a.m. on Sunday at one hospital in Honghe Prefecture, in southwestern Yunnan Province, and that three died Monday morning. The symptoms included feeling cold, vomiting, dropping blood pressure and coma.
Xinhua said injections of the herb, also called ciwujia (pronounced tsih-woo-jyah), are used to treat “thrombosis caused by a weak liver and kidney,” and to address coronary problems and other illnesses. The herb is sold in various forms, including capsules and herbal teas, and it is used in some products in the West. But the problem appeared to be limited to the Wandashan preparation.
Toxic drugs have long been a problem in China, and official corruption is sometimes involved. Last year, the former head of the State Food and Drug Administration, Zheng Xiaoyu, was executed after being found guilty of accepting more than $850,000 in bribes from eight drug companies. His execution was intended to be a sign that anyone involved in manufacturing or enabling the sale of tainted food or medicine would be severely punished.
The reputation of Chinese products has been battered over the last year by revelations regarding poisonous pet food, contaminated drugs, dangerous toys, and, most recently, tainted milk.
Milk illegally spiked with the industrial chemical melamine, apparently to falsely raise its protein count, was used, among other products, in powdered infant formula, causing the deaths of at least three babies and causing 53,000 others to become ill. On Wednesday alone, 539 children were admitted to hospitals. Many countries have begun banning food products containing Chinese dairy ingredients.
On Thursday, the Finance Ministry announced on its Web site that it would give the equivalent of $44 million in subsidies to dairy farmers hit hard by the downturn in milk sales. Many farmers have had to dispose of vast quantities of the suspect milk.
Most of the money will go to farmers in the main dairy-producing regions and provinces of Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Liaoning, Shanxi and Shandong.
Huang Yuanxi contributed research.
China Bans Herbal Medicine Brand After 3 Deaths
By EDWARD WONG
Published: October 9, 2008
BEIJING — The Chinese government announced that it had banned the sale and use of one brand of an herbal medicine after three people injected with it died and three others fell seriously ill, revealing a new product safety issue even as the government is grappling with the scandal over tainted milk.
The State Food and Drug Administration posted a warning on its Web site late Wednesday, identifying the problem drug as a preparation of Siberian ginseng made by Wandashan Pharmaceutical, based in northeastern China. The agency said it had discovered two harmful batches of the medicine and urged people across China to report any problems with the product.
It was not immediately clear whether Wandashan marketed its products outside of China. A woman answering the phone at the Wandashan headquarters in the capital of Heilongjiang Province said the company had recalled all products containing the herb within 24 hours of receiving word from the government. She declined to give her name and said she could not provide more details because of an ongoing investigation.
The official Xinhua news agency reported that the six victims became ill after being injected around 10 a.m. on Sunday at one hospital in Honghe Prefecture, in southwestern Yunnan Province, and that three died Monday morning. The symptoms included feeling cold, vomiting, dropping blood pressure and coma.
Xinhua said injections of the herb, also called ciwujia (pronounced tsih-woo-jyah), are used to treat “thrombosis caused by a weak liver and kidney,” and to address coronary problems and other illnesses. The herb is sold in various forms, including capsules and herbal teas, and it is used in some products in the West. But the problem appeared to be limited to the Wandashan preparation.
Toxic drugs have long been a problem in China, and official corruption is sometimes involved. Last year, the former head of the State Food and Drug Administration, Zheng Xiaoyu, was executed after being found guilty of accepting more than $850,000 in bribes from eight drug companies. His execution was intended to be a sign that anyone involved in manufacturing or enabling the sale of tainted food or medicine would be severely punished.
The reputation of Chinese products has been battered over the last year by revelations regarding poisonous pet food, contaminated drugs, dangerous toys, and, most recently, tainted milk.
Milk illegally spiked with the industrial chemical melamine, apparently to falsely raise its protein count, was used, among other products, in powdered infant formula, causing the deaths of at least three babies and causing 53,000 others to become ill. On Wednesday alone, 539 children were admitted to hospitals. Many countries have begun banning food products containing Chinese dairy ingredients.
On Thursday, the Finance Ministry announced on its Web site that it would give the equivalent of $44 million in subsidies to dairy farmers hit hard by the downturn in milk sales. Many farmers have had to dispose of vast quantities of the suspect milk.
Most of the money will go to farmers in the main dairy-producing regions and provinces of Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Liaoning, Shanxi and Shandong.
Huang Yuanxi contributed research.