Scrambling to show that it is serious about improving the safety of its products, China executed its former top food and drug regulator Tuesday for taking bribes to approve untested medicine.
The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court carried out the death sentence against Zheng Xiaoyu, 62, the former head of the State Food and Drug Administration, shortly after the
country's Supreme Court rejected his final appeal. Zheng had appealed his May 29 sentence on the grounds that it was too severe and that he had confessed to the bribery charges against him.
On the same day that Zheng was executed, representatives of the country's leading food and drug regulatory bodies held a joint news conference to emphasize their determination to crack down on
fake and counterfeit food and medicine.
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