Ethics Newsline®

BEIJING
China, sensing an economic backlash against counterfeit and adulterated goods at home and exported abroad, last week stepped up efforts to restore consumer confidence — a push capped by the execution of the former head of the state food and drug administration for taking bribes to approve bogus drugs.

Chicago Tribune correspondent Evan Osnos, reporting from Beijing, writes that while the execution of Zheng Xiaoyu was assumed by many to be an effort to placate foreign consumers unnerved by recalls and bans on tainted Chinese products, “to Chinese officials and factory bosses, the message was far clearer: Top leaders are unwilling to let corruption endanger the export engine on which the nation’s growth and Communist Party’s power depends.”

The execution was a harsh and swift sentence even by Chinese standards, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times, reflecting deep anger among Chinese concerned about their health as well as international economic fallout.

At its root, writes Newsweek, the problem is akin to an ethical issue that could have been resurrected from U.S. history books: “China today resembles nothing so much as the United States a century ago, when robber barons, gangsterism, and raw capitalism held sway. Now as then, powerful vested interests are profiting from murky regulations, shoddy enforcement, rampant corruption and a lack of consumer awareness. In the United States during the early 20th century, public outrage over bogus drugs and contaminated foodstuffs, fueled by graphic accounts such as Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, finally prompted passage of the landmark Pure Food and Drug Act.”

Chinese officials, who initially dismissed criticism about product-safety crises involving commodities as diverse as medications, toothpaste, pet food, tires, and seafood, last week abruptly switched gears. In the wake of Zheng’s execution, officials convened a rare press conference and, in an even more unusual move, admitted the problem.

The state-run China Daily quoted a spokesman for the government conceding that “China’s food and drug supervision work began late with weak foundations.”

Officials announced a five-year plan to tighten supervision and upgrade standards.

In a separate move, Chinese regulators banned the use of diethylene glycol as a sweetener for toothpaste, Bloomberg reports. The substance, often used in antifreeze, was found in shipments sent to the United States from China, resulting in all Chinese toothpaste imports being detained and tested at the border.