China Says 2 of Its Companies Played a Role in Poisonings
By JAKE HOOKER and WALT BOGDANICH
June 1, 2007
中国表示两家公司和中毒事件有关
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.
中国管理机构在5月31日首次承认，中国两家公司在对感冒药中有毒成分进行标签和出售中行为不规范，导致去年巴拿马至少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.
但该管理机构称，死亡事故的主要责任在于西班牙和巴拿马的贸易商，他们明知这种成分不适用于药品，但仍作为药品成分出售。但这些贸易商均否认这种说法。

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.
中国公司出售的是纯度99.5%的甘油，但美国FDA称该产品实际含24%的双乙烯甘醇（一种用于抗冻剂的有毒物）。

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.
本次调查负责人、中国雷竞技百科 监督检验检疫总局副局长魏传忠表示，该工厂将产品标记为甘油，但实际含大量双乙烯甘醇。某官员证实，这些“甘油”通过了中国海关。

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.
但魏传忠指出，生产和出口商中服嘉远贸易公司将该产品作为工业用的“TD甘油”（好像是替代甘油的意思？）出售，而不是用于医药。他进一步指出，是巴拿马进口公司Medicom Business Group更改了文件，改为医用级甘油。

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.
但魏传忠没有解释为何中国公司出口产品采用虚假的分析证明（COA），将含量标为99.5%甘油。中国官方表示仍在调查公司。

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表示中国的解释回避了重要事实：欺骗是从虚假的COA开始的。“如果产品是99.5%甘油，巴拿马死亡事件就不会发生。”

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.
西班牙经销商Rasfer International的经理Ascensión Criado说，中国不该指责他们公司，“我们订购的是甘油，但他们送来另一种东西。”

Valentín Jaén, a lawyer for Medicom, the Panamanian importer, said, “The Chinese state has no reason or justification to blame Medicom for anything.”
巴拿马进口商Medicom的律师Valentín Jaén称：“中国没有任何理由指责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日尼加拉瓜宣称40000多支有污染嫌疑的中国产牙膏被查封，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.