China Says 2 of Its Companies Played a Role in Poisonings
By JAKE HOOKER and WALT BOGDANICH
June 1, 2007
中國表示兩家公司和中毒事件有關
2007年6月1日

BEIJING, May 31 — Chinese regulators acknowledged for the first time Thursday that two Chinese companies had “engaged in some misconduct” in the way they labeled and sold a poisonous ingredient that ended up in cold medicine, killing at least 100 people in Panama last year.
中國管理機構在5月31日首次承認，中國兩家公司在對感冒藥中有毒成分進行標簽和出售中行為不規范，導致去年巴拿馬至少100人死亡。

But the regulators said primary responsibility for the deaths rested with traders in Spain and Panama who knew the product was not suitable for use in medicine but sold it for that purpose anyway. Both trading companies dispute that charge.
但該管理機構稱，死亡事故的主要責任在于西班牙和巴拿馬的貿易商，他們明知這種成分不適用于藥品，但仍作為藥品成分出售。但這些貿易商均否認這種說法。

Chinese companies sold the ingredient as 99.5 percent pure glycerin, even though it contained about 24 percent diethylene glycol, a poison commonly used in antifreeze, according to the United States Food and Drug Administration.
中國公司出售的是純度99.5%的甘油，但美國FDA稱該產品實際含24%的雙乙烯甘醇（一種用于抗凍劑的有毒物）。

Chinese authorities also said that Chinese-made toothpaste containing small amounts of diethylene glycol was safe, and that its manufacturer had broken no laws. But officials also said that new controls would be put on the use of the chemical in toothpaste, and that toothpaste sold for export would be tested.
Tens of thousands of tubes of tainted Chinese-made toothpaste were recently seized in Panama and at least three other Latin American countries. The F.D.A. is now testing samples of all toothpaste imported into the United States from China.
The Chinese government’s findings reflect its growing concern over the perception that the country’s safety regulations may not have kept up with its booming export economy.
American officials recently accused two Chinese companies of intentionally shipping pet food ingredients contaminated with an industrial chemical, melamine, to the United States, leading to one of the largest pet food recalls in history. After initial denials, Beijing officials banned the use of melamine and have promised to improve food safety regulations and export controls.
Chinese authorities reopened an investigation of the Panama poisonings in response to a report last month by The New York Times that traced 46 barrels of the mislabeled poison from the Panama port city of Colón through Barcelona, Spain, to a Beijing trading company and finally to its origin at the Taixing Glycerine Factory in the Yangtze Delta.

Wei Chuanzhong, the head of investigation and deputy director of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, acknowledged that the factory had labeled the barrels as glycerin even though they contained significant amounts of diethylene glycol. An official confirmed that they had passed through Chinese customs as glycerin.
本次調查負責人、中國質量監督檢驗檢疫總局副局長魏傳忠表示，該工廠將產品標記為甘油，但實際含大量雙乙烯甘醇。某官員證實，這些“甘油”通過了中國海關。

But Mr. Wei said the manufacturer and its exporter, CNSC Fortune Way in Beijing, had sold the barrels as “TD” glycerin — or substitute glycerin — for industrial, not medical, use. He further charged that a Panamanian import company, the Medicom Business Group, had altered the paperwork, describing the substance as pharmaceutical grade.
但魏傳忠指出，生產和出口商中服嘉遠貿易公司將該產品作為工業用的“TD甘油”（好像是替代甘油的意思？）出售，而不是用于醫藥。他進一步指出，是巴拿馬進口公司Medicom Business Group更改了文件，改為醫用級甘油。

Mr. Wei did not explain why the Chinese companies had exported barrels with a false certificate of analysis, listing their content as 99.5 percent glycerin. Both companies remain under investigation, according to Chinese authorities.
但魏傳忠沒有解釋為何中國公司出口產品采用虛假的分析證明（COA），將含量標為99.5%甘油。中國官方表示仍在調查公司。

The F.D.A. said China’s explanation sidestepped a critical fact: the deception had begun with the false certificate of analysis. “If the drums had been 99.5 percent glycerin, the deaths in Panama would never have occurred,” the agency said.
FDA表示中國的解釋回避了重要事實：欺騙是從虛假的COA開始的。“如果產品是99.5%甘油，巴拿馬死亡事件就不會發生。”

Ascensión Criado, manager of the Spanish trading company Rasfer International, said China was wrong to blame her company. “We ordered glycerin and they sent us something else,” she said.
西班牙經銷商Rasfer International的經理Ascensión Criado說，中國不該指責他們公司，“我們訂購的是甘油，但他們送來另一種東西。”

Valentín Jaén, a lawyer for Medicom, the Panamanian importer, said, “The Chinese state has no reason or justification to blame Medicom for anything.”
巴拿馬進口商Medicom的律師Valentín Jaén稱：“中國沒有任何理由指責Medicom。”

On Thursday, Nicaragua announced the seizure of more than 40,000 tubes of Chinese-made toothpaste suspected of contamination and that as many as 80,000 tubes of the Excel and Mr. Cool brands might still be on the local market.
5月31日尼加拉瓜宣稱40000多支有污染嫌疑的中國產牙膏被查封，但仍可能有80000支仍在市面。

Jake Hooker reported from Beijing, and Walt Bogdanich from New York. Renwick McLean contributed reporting from New York, and R. M. Koster from Panama.