China issues alert on "chromium-contaminated" capsules
| Editor's Note |
China's drug watchdog issued an emergency notice late Sunday night to suspend the selling and consumption of a list of capsules with reported excessive chromium contamination.
Earlier Sunday, a report run by the China Central Television (CCTV) revealed that several commonly used drugs were packed into capsules made from industrial gelatin, which contains a much higher degree of chromium than edible gelatin.
| Latest News |
22 nabbed for producing toxic drug capsules
Police in east China's Zhejiang Province said Monday they had captured 22 people who allegedly produced and sold pharmaceutical capsules containing excessive levels of chromium.
China issues alert on "chromium-contaminated" capsules
The State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) has instructed its local bureaus to investigate the cases and examine the drugs mentioned in the report, said the SFDA notice.
Industrial gelatin used to make pills: TV report
A batch of medicinal capsules was found to have been made of industrial gelatin, a substance forbidden from medical use, according to a China Central Television (CCTV) report Sunday.
| The List of Problematic Capsules |
Source: CCTV
| Process: How are capsules made of industrial gelatin |
Source: Beijing News
| Voices |
Experts' views on drug safety:
"Some local health authorities only conduct random inspections of these institutions instead of regular checks, which has left loopholes for substandard medical practices…Some regulators only take action after tragedies have occurred."
Zhou Zijun, a professor at the School of Public Health of Peking University
Drug watchdogs at different levels will coordinate with related government organs to make joint efforts to combat counterfeiting and supervise the investigation of major cases with significant social ramifications, adding that enterprises involved will be punished severely.
Fake drug related crimes are showing some new characteristics, as the Internet and mailings are used in marketing, and high technology measures have increasingly been employed in manufacturing.
Shao Mingli, head of the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA)
Internet users' views:
@_黃小贱- ：Medicine companies have already earned surprisingly huge interests, so how can they pursue the money to such a degree? Where are their hearts?
@ 拾叁浩 ：I always take the capsules off and directly take the medicine contained inside them. It seems that I will have to continue doing this and discard the capsule.
@Judeflying：Why do the authorities make the punishments only after media reports? What are they doing at other times?
@ 70后760906：We didn't find the problem before, but now that we find it, can we follow the international scientific practices, and cope with these health-damaging behaviors which are caused by a lack of supervision within the market and the law?
@环保老记成亚威 ：We should bring the concept of supply chain into the management of medicine companies. The medicine enterprises must take inspections over the products provided by the supply chain, and take responsibility for their quality.
| Related Industrial Rules |
Rule one:The crude material for making the medicinal capsules should at least meet the quality standard set in the Edible Gelatin, which regulated that edible gelatins should be made from the skin and bones of animals, among other permitted items. Industrial gelatin is prohibited from being used as an edible gelatin.
The real situation:
Some medicinal capsules of the exposed companies are made from leftovers from leather manufacturing. .
Source: Beijing News
Rule two:The unfilled medicinal capsule producers should obtain a production permit from the related watchdogs and sell the products before they are examined as qualified by the authorities.
The medicinal companies should purchase the unfilled medicinal capsules from qualified companies and put them into use after ensuring the quality of the products.
The real situation:
The chrome content of the medicinal capsules of some companies was not examined before they were packaged and sold in the market with a quality-ensured certification. Some companies were not equipped with facilities to check the chrome content of the medicinal capsules, like Xinchang Huaxing Capsule Company in Zhejiang.
Source: Beijing News
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 Photo: www.ce.cn
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