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NO. 26 JULY 1, 2010
Newsletter> NO. 26 JULY 1, 2010
UPDATED: June 25, 2010 NO. 26 JULY 1, 2010
OPINION
 
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SAFETY FIRST: Shoppers scrutinize quality guarantee information on yogurt packages in a supermarket in Beijing (XINHUA)

Luring Businesses

Recently, six officials of the Environmental Protection Bureau of Guzhen County in Anhui Province, including its director and a deputy director, were suspended from official posts by the county government, allegedly because the bureau punished a company causing pollution. The officials were blamed for hampering the attracting of investment.

Because the local public expressed strong dissatisfaction, the county government admitted its decision to sanction these environment officials was wrong and decided to renew their posts.

We have seen so many examples of connivance over pollution by local governments solely because they want to entice investors and attract more investment. Worse still, environment watchdogs, pressured by higher authorities, often give in and approve many of these polluting projects.

In the Guzhen case, environment officials have resumed their posts. But, given today's gross domestic product-based official performance assessment criteria, it's hard to say how long they will continue to show courage in the fight against pollution, which is the primary responsibility of their work.

Guangzhou Daily

Food Safety Costly

The Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau of Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, recently claimed, if people want to get safe food, they have to pay as much money as the procedures of inspection, processing and packaging demand. In other words, consumers have to pay for safety.

It is, however, naive to believe money will necessarily bring safe food.

Most food safety problems in our daily life happen in the production stage. For example, pigs and poultry are fed with hormones, fish are fed with prophylactics, and vegetables and fruits are polluted by pesticide residues. Are these problems solvable with money?

For some business people, maximizing profit margins is the only objective, while social responsibility and consumers' health mean nothing to them.

When it says "safety requires money," the quality watchdog in Guangzhou undoubtedly implies many food safety problems should be blamed on consumers' reluctance to spend more on expensive "safe" food.

While corrupt businesses should be criticized, inaction of government departments should be held more accountable for food safety problems. The loopholes in the regulatory system are the roots of unsafe food.

Yanzhao Evening News

Protecting Informants

About 70 percent of those who have reported suspected law violations to procuratorial bodies nationwide have suffered from some form of revenge, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) says.

SPP officials also said revenge was often taken covertly and in legal disguise, making it difficult to protect informants, Legal Daily reported on June 20.

SPP statistics show procuratorial bodies at different levels nationally received more than 1 million tip-offs of illegal activities from 2003-08, of which 70 percent were reported by ordinary people. From the figures we can conclude the informants have been a big help and made great contributions to maintaining justice and public order in China.

But revenge against informants has led to more people reporting illegal activities anonymously, which adds to difficulties to investigating into them, SPP said.

In 2009, Wang Shuai, a resident in Lingbao County in central China's Henan Province, was wrongly detained by the police for accusing the local government in his blog of illegally acquiring farmland. Although the police later apologized to him because of pressure from the media, Wang said he would not continue to report illegal activities because "the price was so high."

Some scholars suggest China enact a law to protect informants, but making a new law is just one aspect of solving the problem. The key lies in restricting administrative power. Efforts should be intensified to make the process of exercising power more transparent and put people who are vested with power under close supervision.

Zhujiang Evening News

Drug Price Liars

It has been reported retail prices of dozens of drugs in the medical insurance reimbursement program have increased remarkably, some by as much as 90 percent, since a revised list of the drugs was published last November.

It is quite obvious the price hikes are meant to force the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), which is responsible for setting retail price caps for drugs in the program, to accept higher-than-reasonable rates, so manufacturers and sellers can maximize their margins.

In general, the NDRC and local price regulators need time to verify the cost of new pharmaceuticals and determine their retail price caps after their inclusion in the program. In some cases, price caps will refer to the drugs' current prices on the market. Drug manufacturers have taken advantage of this time lag to increase their returns.

There are reports a drug with the generic name of Ondansetron Hydrochloride is sold at more than 21 times its production cost in northwest China's Shaanxi Province. A dose of the drug, about 8 mg, costs less than 4 yuan ($0.59), but is sold for 84.80 yuan ($12.42) to patients.

A box of Lusun Pian pills to alleviate symptoms of cancer is being sold at 213 yuan ($31.18), but has a production cost of only 15.50 yuan ($2.27), state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Although NDRC officials have pledged to take measures to curb rampant drug price hikes, its inability to punish previous price irregularities of pharmaceutical companies has encouraged more attempts to increase prices further. From now on, the price regulator must use an iron fist when dealing with those pushing up drug prices.

China Youth Daily



 
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