22 detained in capsule scandal
By Cai Wenjun |
April 17, 2012, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
POLICE in an east China county said yesterday that they had detained 22 people from four companies involved in the sale or production of medicine capsules tainted with chromium.
Officers in Xinchang, Zhejiang Province, acted in response to a state TV investigation on Sunday which claimed medicine capsules made in Xinchang with illegal industrial gelatin contained an excess of chromium, a heavy metal that can cause kidney and liver damage and even lead to cancer.
The report said that the industrial gelatin, processed from scraps of leather to replace the more expensive edible gelatin, came from companies in north China's Hebei Province and Zhejiang's neighboring Jiangxi Province.
Authorities are investigating 43 capsule manufacturing companies in Xinchang and have suspended operations of those found to be operating outside the law.
Meanwhile, Song Xunjie, the manager of a company in Hebei Province which was said to have provided industrial gelatin to capsule companies, was detained at around noon yesterday. Police said he set fire to the plant on Sunday afternoon in a bid to destroy evidence. Authorities also suspended the plant, seizing more than 200 tons of products.
All gelatin plants in Fucheng have been ordered to stop operation.
The State Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency notice late Sunday night to suspend the sale of 13 medicines mentioned in the CCTV report and instructed local bureaus to investigate and examine the drugs named.
The 13 drugs, mostly popular over the counter medicines, were from nine pharmaceutical companies, including major well-known companies such as the Xiuzheng Pharmaceutical Group and Gela Dandong Pharmaceutical Co. The websites of some of the companies named in the TV report, including Xiuzheng's, were hacked over the past two days and the share price of the only listed company mentioned, Tonghua Golden Horse Pharmaceutical Industry Co, fell yesterday.
Meanwhile, the share price of listed companies which produce edible gelatin, which is allowed in the production of the capsules but is more expensive, rose.
Shanghai Food and Drug Administration said yesterday it had ordered drugstores and hospitals to remove all the medicines on the CCTV list. "Eleven medicines among the 13 are sold or were sold in the city," said the city FDA's Wang Youzhi. "Six products were introduced to Shanghai this year."
There is no suggestion of any problems with the medicines themselves, just with the capsules.
According to CCTV, industrial gelatin, made from waste leather, was being transported to plants in the country's biggest capsule manufacturing area in Zhejiang.
The Xinchang County government shut down Zhuokang Capsule Co Ltd and Huaxing Capsule Plant and sent their raw materials and products for checks.
Xinchang also ordered all capsule companies in the county to stop production. Only those which pass inspection will be allowed to resume.
Xinchang's Ru'ao Town has more than 40 capsule plants, providing about 100 billion capsules annually, or about a third of the output on the Chinese mainland. Zhuokang and Huaxing are both in Ru'ao.
Shanghai's FDA said checks on capsule products were ongoing and illegal companies would be named and subject to serious punishments.
Shanghai has two capsule producing plants and some 40 companies use their capsules.
City FDA officials said monitoring in recent years had found unqualified capsule products from Zhejiang Province.
Officers in Xinchang, Zhejiang Province, acted in response to a state TV investigation on Sunday which claimed medicine capsules made in Xinchang with illegal industrial gelatin contained an excess of chromium, a heavy metal that can cause kidney and liver damage and even lead to cancer.
The report said that the industrial gelatin, processed from scraps of leather to replace the more expensive edible gelatin, came from companies in north China's Hebei Province and Zhejiang's neighboring Jiangxi Province.
Authorities are investigating 43 capsule manufacturing companies in Xinchang and have suspended operations of those found to be operating outside the law.
Meanwhile, Song Xunjie, the manager of a company in Hebei Province which was said to have provided industrial gelatin to capsule companies, was detained at around noon yesterday. Police said he set fire to the plant on Sunday afternoon in a bid to destroy evidence. Authorities also suspended the plant, seizing more than 200 tons of products.
All gelatin plants in Fucheng have been ordered to stop operation.
The State Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency notice late Sunday night to suspend the sale of 13 medicines mentioned in the CCTV report and instructed local bureaus to investigate and examine the drugs named.
The 13 drugs, mostly popular over the counter medicines, were from nine pharmaceutical companies, including major well-known companies such as the Xiuzheng Pharmaceutical Group and Gela Dandong Pharmaceutical Co. The websites of some of the companies named in the TV report, including Xiuzheng's, were hacked over the past two days and the share price of the only listed company mentioned, Tonghua Golden Horse Pharmaceutical Industry Co, fell yesterday.
Meanwhile, the share price of listed companies which produce edible gelatin, which is allowed in the production of the capsules but is more expensive, rose.
Shanghai Food and Drug Administration said yesterday it had ordered drugstores and hospitals to remove all the medicines on the CCTV list. "Eleven medicines among the 13 are sold or were sold in the city," said the city FDA's Wang Youzhi. "Six products were introduced to Shanghai this year."
There is no suggestion of any problems with the medicines themselves, just with the capsules.
According to CCTV, industrial gelatin, made from waste leather, was being transported to plants in the country's biggest capsule manufacturing area in Zhejiang.
The Xinchang County government shut down Zhuokang Capsule Co Ltd and Huaxing Capsule Plant and sent their raw materials and products for checks.
Xinchang also ordered all capsule companies in the county to stop production. Only those which pass inspection will be allowed to resume.
Xinchang's Ru'ao Town has more than 40 capsule plants, providing about 100 billion capsules annually, or about a third of the output on the Chinese mainland. Zhuokang and Huaxing are both in Ru'ao.
Shanghai's FDA said checks on capsule products were ongoing and illegal companies would be named and subject to serious punishments.
Shanghai has two capsule producing plants and some 40 companies use their capsules.
City FDA officials said monitoring in recent years had found unqualified capsule products from Zhejiang Province.
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