The State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) will hold regular
press conferences on a trial basis in the second half of this year
to allow better oversight by the public and the media and to curb
corruption.
SFDA head Shao Mingli said on Monday that people's food and drug
safety cannot be guaranteed without effective public and media
supervision. Institutions must evolve to ensure the public's right
to know.
He said "the SFDA will provide adequate information concerning
food and drug safety in a timely manner, to ensure accurate
information is made public and to prevent wrong reports from
misleading the public."
Food and drug safety has been one of the most talked-about
issues in China since former SFDA director Zheng Xiaoyu was
investigated on suspicion of receiving bribes amid a slew of
scandals relating to food and drug safety in 2006.
While Zheng was under investigation, Hao Heping, former director
of the SFDA's medical equipment department, and Cao Wenzhuang,
former director of the SFDA's drug registration department, who had
both served as secretaries to Zheng, were given sentences for
graft.
Last year, Chinese society was shocked by the news that Xinfu, a
substandard antibiotic drug made by a company in east China's Anhui Province, had caused at least ten
deaths.
During the "two sessions," the annual session of the National
People's Congress and the annual session of the national committee of the
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) this
March, some CPPCC national committee members blamed the corruption
in the food and safety area on an over-concentration of power and
the lack of public supervision.
They said the drug approval and circulation system is not
transparent and open, and breeds corruption.
Shao recently published an open letter on the internet saying
that "the SFDA's fundamental goal is to safeguard public food and
drug safety. We are confident we can perform the holy duty
entrusted to us by the Party and the people."
(Xinhua News Agency April 3, 2007)