BEIJING - Chinese authorities have
arrested eleven (11) people suspected of making and selling some ninety (90)
million cancer-causing capsule casings in the eastern province of Zhejiang
province, a state media report said.
The state-run China
Daily newspaper said Thursday the casings were made with an industrial
gelatin that contained high amounts of the unsafe metal chromium, adding that
group leader Pan Bohai and 10 of his employees were detained at a workshop last
month.
Authorities have found that the
company has sold some 90 million cancer-causing capsules since February. Police
are still searching where the casings were sold.
The paper said Pan, who had formerly
worked at a now-bankrupt pharmaceutical firm that also produced empty capsules,
convinced 10 friends to establish his own business.
Chinese consumers have become
cautious about the reports of fake food and pharmaceuticals in the wake of a
series of scandals which involved Chinese factories.
Capsule makers sometimes used
cheaper industrial gelatin, made with unsafe amounts of the metal chromium, and
instead of the pricier gelatin made for human consumption, to cut corners from
their capital and expenses.
Last week, authorities discovered
excess hydrogen peroxide was added to the meat, and detained 38 people after it
was discovered that nine supplier factories sold chicken feet laden with excess
hydrogen peroxide.
Infant formula infected by the
industrial chemical melamine caused the illness of hundreds of thousands of
infants and killed at least six, stated in a report of 2008.
In 2012,
authorities conducted investigations into 43 companies for producing
chromium-tainted capsules.
Meanwhile in 2008, at least six infants died and
hundreds of thousands fell ill after authorities found infant formula tainted
by the industrial chemical melamine.
