Chinese and American Health Officials Meet Over Safety Standards

On Friday, the United States Department of Health and Human Services stated that this week in Beijing a delegation of senior HHS and Food and Drug Administration officials, headed up by Rich McKeown, held a series of initial negotiations with senior officials from several government agencies of the People's Republic of China. Included were the Chinese State Food and Drug Administration; the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine; the Ministries of Health and Agriculture; and the Certification and Accreditation Administration.

According to Secretary Mike Leavitt, the sessions were used to kick off formal negotiations on two agreements. One concerns the safety of food and feed. The other concerns the safety of drugs and medical devices. Their purpose is to create recognized standards and guidelines which would help to assure the safety, quality, and effectiveness of products exported from China to the United States.

The Secretary indicated that success was being achieved, and he stated that he is confident that formal agreements concerning there matters can be drawn up and signed by December, as is the objective.

Earlier this year, China executed its former head of its national Food and Drug Administration, who had served in that capacity for seven years. He was convicted of taking bribes in order to push companies' products through the approval process without putting said products through the necessary or full safety testing. In his case, his bribe-taking led to unsafe medicines being sold which resulted in a number of deaths.