Nine arrested over fake bird flu vaccine
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-11-30 22:36

Nine people have been arrested for selling fake bird flu vaccines that are suspected to have contributed to an outbreak of the disease in northeastern China's Liaoning province.

A bottle containing a vaccine against bird flu from Sinovac Biotech. Nine people have been arrested for selling fake bird flu vaccines that are suspected to have contributed to an outbreak of the disease in northeastern China's Liaoning province. [AFP]

Police have arrested officials of the Jinyu Group, a company based in Inner Mongolia that produces medicines, and of the Inner Mongolian Biological Medical Products Factory, the Liaoxi Commercial Daily reported Wednesday.

After a 20-day investigation covering four provinces and regions, police found the two companies had manufactured and sold 200,000 vials of 12 different kinds of bird flu vaccine nationwide, the report said.

With 29 outbreaks of the disease discovered so far this year, China is seeking to vaccinate its estimated 5.2 billion farm raised birds, but requires manufacturers to have a license to produce the vaccines.

Police said that the Jinyu Corporation failed to apply for a license from the state to manufacture bird flu vaccines for poultry, but labelled its products with fake government licensing numbers, it said.

Investigators found the fake vaccines were used on farms in Liaoning's Jinzhou region, where an outbreak of bird flu occurred in mid-October, the report said.

Some 2.5 million farm raised birds were culled in the Jinzhou region following the outbreak, devastating the livelihood of farmers in the region.

The relationship between the two suspected companies was not immediately clear, but one man arrested, Wang Jiafu, was a vice director of the Jinyu Corporation as well as the legal representative of the Inner Mongolian Biological Medical Products Factory, it said.