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Nine arrested over fake bird flu vaccine
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-11-30 22:36
Nine people have been arrested for selling fake bird flu vaccines that are
suspected to have contributed to an outbreak of the disease in northeastern
China's Liaoning province.
A bottle containing a vaccine against bird flu
from Sinovac Biotech. Nine people have been arrested for selling fake bird
flu vaccines that are suspected to have contributed to an outbreak of the
disease in northeastern China's Liaoning province.
[AFP] |
Police have arrested officials of the Jinyu Group, a company based in Inner
Mongolia that produces medicines, and of the Inner Mongolian Biological Medical
Products Factory, the Liaoxi Commercial Daily reported Wednesday.
After a 20-day investigation covering four provinces and regions, police
found the two companies had manufactured and sold 200,000 vials of 12 different
kinds of bird flu vaccine nationwide, the report said.
With 29 outbreaks of the disease discovered so far this year, China is
seeking to vaccinate its estimated 5.2 billion farm raised birds, but requires
manufacturers to have a license to produce the vaccines.
Police said that the Jinyu Corporation failed to apply for a license from the
state to manufacture bird flu vaccines for poultry, but labelled its products
with fake government licensing numbers, it said.
Investigators found the fake vaccines were used on farms in Liaoning's
Jinzhou region, where an outbreak of bird flu occurred in mid-October, the
report said.
Some 2.5 million farm raised birds were culled in the Jinzhou region
following the outbreak, devastating the livelihood of farmers in the region.
The relationship between the two suspected companies was not immediately
clear, but one man arrested, Wang Jiafu, was a vice director of the Jinyu
Corporation as well as the legal representative of the Inner Mongolian
Biological Medical Products Factory, it said.
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