"Chelsea Clinton slimming patch" and other drug scares

We told you about the Made-in-China scare that is happening outside of China, but let's take another look at what's happening right here right now. A CCTV program (click link for video in Chinese) has investigated a herbal weight loss patch (美国七点瘦) which its manufacturers claim to have helped Chelsea Clinton shed 12 kilograms in less than a month. Users are instructed to stick the patch to the area of the body where they want to lose weight and then just wait for the patch to miraculously suck the fat out of them through the skin (yes you heard that right).

A Reuters report elucidates:

The patch is named after an acupuncture point and translates clumsily into "America Seven-Point Thinness".

Though it claimed to be imported from the United States -- where the advertisements said it was a top seller and used by Chelsea Clinton -- it was actually made by a company from the nearby industrial city of Tianjin, the newspaper said.

In the few months it was on the market, the commercials helped propel sales to more than 200 million yuan ($A30.7 million), it added.

In a related China Daily news report, the country's top food and drug watchdog has warned that China risks losing credibility on the international stage if it does not tackle problems with food and drug quality now.

Said Sun Xianze, a senior official with the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA):

The food security problems have impeded Chinese agri-products and food many times in international trade, and damaged our national credibility and image

The Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certificates of 128 drug makers mainly in Jilin, Henan, Hainan, Sichuan and Anhui provinces have recently been revoked by the SFDA. The report continues by highlighting several drug-related horror stories:

Eleven people were reported to have died last year after taking a drug made by the Qiqihar No 2 Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, one of the five companies shut down by the SFDA.

Guangdong Baiyi Pharmaceutical was reported to have made hemoglobin, which was infected with a virus carried by a donor.

In another development, the food and drug watchdog has suspended a drug used to treat acute leukemia and rheumatoid arthritis after several adverse reaction cases were found.

Several child patients suffering leukemia in three hospitals in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Shanghai felt pain in their legs and even had difficulty walking after being injected with the methotrexate, a drug produced by Shanghai Hualian Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, according to the SFDA.

Pictures from news.enorth.com.cn and health.enorth.com.