How helpful would it be if we too were to execute medicine regulators who take money from the pharmaceutical companies?

China's toxic system - Telegraph

Extract:

"The execution of the former head of China's food and medicine regulator will perhaps be seen as the effective response of an all-powerful government to corruption. In fact, the sentence passed on Zheng Xiaoyu is a desperate response by a state that is incapable of rooting out graft. And that rottenness stems from the Communist Party's refusal to match economic reform with political liberalisation. Mr Zheng may have been executed for taking bribes from eight pharmaceutical companies, but, in a polity that lacks democratic accountability, his death will do little to stop the venal connivance between cadres and businessmen, particularly at local level.

The fate of Mr Zheng and the safety concerns over Chinese exports, from pet food to toys, tyres and toothpaste, illustrates the limits of the most extraordinary economic boom the world has ever seen. Deng Xiaoping unleashed the country's phenomenal productive potential with his "Four Modernisations", but Tiananmen Square put paid to what the dissident Wei Jingsheng called the fifth, the introduction of democracy. Nearly 20 years on, much of the country has been transformed out of recognition, but at a cost."

In my country people who similarly defend the drug companies rather than protect the safety of people's life and health do not get punished! - In fact, it appears that they are paid for it! - See http://aboutsalt.blogspot.com/2007/04/is-mhra-medicines-and-healthcare.html

Not much 'democratic accountability' in this 'democracy'...)o:

The disgraced head of China's food and drug agency was sentenced to death today amid a wave of consumer safety scandals...

China sentences former food and drugs chief to death - Guardian

Extracts:

"The disgraced head of China's food and drug agency was sentenced to death today amid a wave of consumer safety scandals that have rippled across the world.

Zheng Xiaoyu was found guilty of accepting 6.5m yuan (£433,000) worth of bribes from pharmaceutical companies to expedite the approval of new drugs.

Underscoring the state's determination to crackdown on corruption and consumer safety violations, he is the most senior official to receive the death penalty in seven years."

""Zheng was supposed to use the power given to him by the state and the people seriously and honestly, but instead he has ignored their vital interests by taking the bribes," the Xinhua news agency quoted the court as saying. "This has threatened the safety of people's life and health and has caused an extremely bad social impact."

The unusually harsh penalty may have been handed down to reassure foreign as well as Chinese consumers that the government is taking action."

So - this fellow has been sentenced to death because what he did "threatened the safety of people's life and health". - In contrast, the people in my country who similarly protect the drug companies rather than "the safety of people's life and health" do not get punished at all! - In fact, it appears that they continue to be paid for it! - See http://aboutsalt.blogspot.com/2007/04/is-mhra-medicines-and-healthcare.html


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