90 million pill capsules laced with toxic metal are sold in China; 11 arrested
Chinese police detained 11 people in Zhejiang province in connection with the market release of drug capsules tainted by a poisonous metal.
Police in China are trying to trace 90 million drug capsules laced with the toxic metal chromium that have been sold on the open market, in the latest product safety scandal to hit the country.
Eleven people in Zhejiang province were arrested following the discovery that the capsules - which pharmaceutical companies use for their drugs - were tainted with the poison.
Police, along with food and drug authorities in Ninghai county, seized more than 440,000 chromium-laced capsules from an illegal workshop on July 22.
They also confiscated more than 100kg of semi-finished capsules and more than 700kg of capsule material made from industrial gelatin containing the toxin, according to a Zhejiang newspaper hosted by official news agency Xinhua.
An investigation by police found that from February to July the workshop produced about 90 million capsules which contained chromium far exceeding safety levels for edible gelatin.
The entire stock was sold.
The illegal workshop’s owner, identified by his surname Pan had hired 10 people from the county who were involved in a tainted capsule scandal in 2012, the report said.