前中国药品监管局长被判死刑 (China's Drug Regulator Sentenced to Death)

中国官方媒体报导说，前中国药品监管部门最高官员以腐败罪被判处死刑。新华社星期二报导说，北京一家法院判定郑筱萸犯有受贿罪和玩忽职守罪。

郑筱萸1998年到2005年间担任中国的国家食品药品监督管理局局长，他利用审批数以百计种药物之便接受了至少65万美元的贿赂，因而被解职。

西方国家卫生部门对中国生产的食品和药物安全性表达了忧虑。此前，中国制造的劣质宠物食品曾导致美国数以百计的宠物因食物中毒生病和死亡。中国的假药成份导致了一些巴拿马人吃药后死亡。

Chinese state media say the country's top drug regulator has been sentenced to death on charges of corruption. The Xinhua news agency reports Tuesday that a Beijing court found Zheng Xiaoyu guilty of taking bribes and dereliction of duty.

Zheng served as the head of China's Food and Drug Administration from 1998 to 2005, when he was fired for taking at least 650-thousand dollars in bribes to approve hundreds of medicines.

Western health agencies have expressed concern about the safety of Chinese-made food products and medicines after sub-par pet food sickened and killed hundreds of animals in the United States, and a fake medical ingredient caused several deaths in Panama.