Safety Falters As Chinese Quiet Those Who Cry Foul
A worker who spoke out about vitamin drinks that did not contain what was on the label was jailed even though an investigation proved her right.
(By Ariana Eunjung Cha -- The Washington Post)
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Thursday, July 19, 2007
HANGZHOU, China -- In spring 2006, an essay appeared on the Internet detailing collusion between the Chinese government's food and drug watchdog agency and a pharmaceutical venture. It accused the country's highest-ranking regulator of accepting a lakeside house and hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Kangliyuan Group in exchange for production licenses.
The problem is "darker and 100 times worse" than what was previously known, wrote the anonymous author. By that time, dozens had died from consuming fake infant formula, tainted antibiotics and other products.
Initially posted on only a handful of online industry discussion boards, the provocative e-mail was forwarded, copied and re-posted all over the Web until it got the attention of the Chinese government.
Law enforcement officials moved quickly to punish those responsible.
But instead of going after the corrupt government official or the company, they targeted Zhang Zhijian, who stumbled across the essay while reading news about the industry on one bulletin board and simply posted it to another.
Zhang, who worked in research and development for an unrelated pharmaceutical company, was jailed, accused of trying to sabotage Kangliyuan for his own commercial benefit. He was held for nine months, until February, when an investigation revealed that accusations of corruption at Kangliyuan were true. China announced on July 10 that Zheng Xiaoyu, head of the State Food and Drug Administration, had been executed for taking bribes from Kangliyuan and other drug companies, as the online essay had alleged.
"I didn't do anything wrong, but the local enterprises and the government attacked me because they were afraid of the truth getting out," said Zhang, 30, who lost his job and had difficulty finding another because of the arrest.
The case of Zhang and other would-be whistleblowers opens a window into the weaknesses of China's regulatory system, which in recent months has come under global criticism after a string of recalls of unsafe pet food, toothpaste, toys, tires and seafood.
It is a setup that suffers from infighting among the five main agencies charged with food and drug safety, a lack of enough personnel and a legal code that is still being written. But its most challenging problem may be that it allows officials to silence voices that are trying to expose trouble.
"The defect in the system is that it makes it difficult for democracy and public participation," said Zhao Kang, a professor of public policy at Suzhou University.
There have been other cases of whistleblowers being punished for going public.
In 2001, Zhou Huanxi, who worked on the factory floor of a company that makes drinks with vitamins and herbs for pregnant women, accused her company of using fake ingredients. The company was ordered to recall the products and was fined. Zhou was jailed on extortion charges.
