China’s Former Drug Regulator to be Executed

China’s former top drug regulator was sentenced to death Tuesday for taking bribes to approve untested medicines, as the country’s main quality control agency announced its first recall system targeting unsafe food products. The developments are among the most dramatic steps Beijing has publicly taken to address domestic and international alarm over shoddy and unsafe Chinese goods—from pet food ingredients and toothpaste mixed with industrial chemicals to tainted antibiotics.

—Audra Ang, The Associated Press, 5/28/07