Food Safety Scofflaws in China to Face Death Penalty

by Jason Best, Posted Sep 20th 2010 @ 2:00PM

Milk at grocery store in China Photo: Franko Lee, AFP/ Getty Images

Egg producers in Iowa may still be reeling from last month's recall of half a billion eggs, but at least they can be grateful for one thing: they don't live in China. Chinese authorities have announced that manufacturers who violate the country's food safety laws will face the death penalty in the future.

Whether the threat of the lethal injection will markedly improve food safety in China is an open debate. The country made worldwide headlines last year when it executed a dairy farmer and a salesman who were convicted for their roles in a huge food contamination scare in which milk tainted with melamine killed at least six children and sickened an estimated 300,000.

But according to the Wall Street Journal's China Real Time Report online, the country continues to face concerns over its food safety. New questions have been raised about the country's milk supply after several infants began to show signs of early onset puberty, which doctors believe may be caused by elevated hormone levels in milk. Last month, dozens of people in Nanjing were hospitalized with severe muscle pain after eating crayfish contaminated with an industrial acid, while public health officials in California pushed for a recall of ginger candy imported from China that was found to contain dangerous levels of lead.

Which is kind of ironic when you think about it, since being put in front of a firing squad has been shown to cause exposures to dangerous levels of lead, too.

Filed Under: Health & Medical, News
Tags: china, death penalty, DeathPenalty, food safety laws, FoodSafetyLaws

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

9-20-2010 @3:35PM Cyn said... It does seem harsh, but I have to admit that when I heard about pets being poisoned, then babies?!?! It did make me wish ill upon whomever was responsible.
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9-20-2010 @5:17PM midhun said... raw food diet
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9-20-2010 @5:19PM midhun babu said... raw food diet
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9-21-2010 @2:03PM Berkana said... China seems to have one tool in its toolbox when it comes to making people behave.
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9-22-2010 @2:43PM Reg said... And it seems to work.

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10-15-2010 @6:26AM glendaplowden said... Why would you ever think that drug users deserve to die for that? That's pathetic to even think that. I'm not an advocate for drugs, but I can see someone with a problem and don't think they should be given the same punishment as a person who murdered someone in cold blood.
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10-16-2010 @8:27AM marshallglen said... They should be outlawed. The political system itself depends upon the honesty and integrity of the representatives of people, the politicians. The system has been in need of repair for decades in a row.
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