China changing by Claudia Sonea

After potentially deadly chemicals were found in the goods exported by China like toothpaste, toys and seafood, there was an International outrage reinforced by a pet food ingredient that caused the death of a large number of cats and dogs in North America. Therefore things had to change and in August was launched a four-month quality-control campaign by a Cabinet-level panel. It was the desire of Beijing's government to prove to the world that is a serious matter and they are committed in respecting their woes regarding the food and drug safety. In consequence, on Monday there were arrested 774 people on charges of trading substandard goods. It was all the result of 626 criminal investigations nationwide into the manufacture and sale of fake or substandard food, medicine or agricultural products between August and mid-October, according to the General Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. The investigations held at a large-scale concluded not only with the arrests, but also with the shutdown of a large number of illegal hubs of activity. Furthermore, Gao Hongbin, the vice minister for agriculture revealed that a system of barcodes to track catfish is used by the Chinese consumers to track their food and it's something innovative for consumers that costs only a few pennies and represents one of the measures taken in the four-month campaign. He added that it even led to the increase of the product's value, so it benefits everyone. But the success of the programs implemented by Vice Premier Wu Yi depends on the local lower-level officials, of the education and the technology that can be used to change people's mentality on the matter in order to not sale tainted products, to discover it and establish a link. Due to the multitude of pesticides that are not labeled properly, an online interactive network must be created and help China to respond to specific complaints. In the past two months nearly 200 illegal food companies were shutdown; more than 300,000 technical staff went to rural areas to help 18 million rural households. Xinhua News Agency also reported Monday that China will also increase quality standards for pharmaceutical licensing as a consequence of the numerous cases of injuries and deaths caused by drugs that were not valid. In only two months they succeeded a bunch of things that make people gaze and look forward for the incoming changes. They promised long lasting decisions and there is no reasons to doubt them, because until now they fulfilled our expectation and even more.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071029/ap_on_re_as/china_tainted_products;_ylt=AmhWevL636UwUlBYdvnGy9ms0NUE

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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