Zheng Xiaoyu died for our sins
When one thinks about the rule of law here in the United States, it can only lead to confusion. The Bush Justice (is that an oxymoron?) Department can put innocent people in prison for political reasons, but lets the guilty ones go.
China, on the other hand, who isn’t exactly known for its sense of justice when it comes to its own people, sure knows where to come down when someone threatens their livelihood. For when Zheng Xiaoyu was convicted of taking bribes to approve medicines that killed people, China hanged him faster than you can say “mentally retarded Texas man.”
Don’t harbor any illusions that Zheng paid the price because he harmed the people who had taken the phony drugs. He was executed for throwing a wrench into the Chinese economy. If we can’t trust their drugs, we certainly can’t trust them not to use poisonous paint on Thomas the Tank Engine or put poison in our dog food.
Nevertheless, one has to ask what ought to be the penalty for distributing poisonous drugs in this country. The New York Times has written a few stories lately about Minnesota doctors who have taken money from drug companies to promote the prescription of their medicines for “non-indicated” uses. There is real evidence that these prescriptions have severely damaged people.
But in this country, bribery for “legitimate” business purposes doesn’t seem to be a crime. In this country, what it leads to is ever increasing profits. Americans would “never, never” do what Chinese officials have done, would they? Well, they have. The difference is that, here, they get away with it.
Do you remember Lester Crawford? He owned stocks in companies he was regulating while he was head of the FDA. That’s not all. If you want to make yourself sick, read this.
His penalty? A little fine, and a nice fat job as a lobbyist.
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