Oversight -- China style

You may have seen or heard this story this morning:

China ex-food and drug chief executed [AP via Yahoo News, 7.10.2007]

BEIJING -- China on Tuesday executed the former head of its food and drug watchdog who had become a symbol of the country's wide-ranging problems on product safety.

The execution of Zheng Xiaoyu was confirmed by state television and the official Xinhua News Agency.

"The few corrupt officials of the [State Food and Drug Administration]
are the shame of the whole system and their scandals have revealed some very serious problems," SFDA spokeswoman Yan Jiangying said at a news conference held to highlight efforts to improve China's track record on food and drug safety.

"We should seriously reflect and learn lessons from these cases. We should step up our efforts to ensure food and drug safety, which is what we are doing now and what we will do in the future," Yan said about Zheng and a separate case involving Cao Wenzhuang, the administration's former pharmaceutical registration department director.