Focusing on food and drug safety supervision
- By Wang Yang
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E-mail China.org.cn, August 23, 2013
China is at a decisive stage in its development. As the economy develops, expectations towards food and drug safety are increasing. There can be no delay in addressing quality and safety problems.
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Food and drug safety is directly concerned with the people's health and safety. [File photo] |
Food and drug safety should be a top priority.
Food and drug safety is a major issue, which is directly concerned with the people's health and safety. There have been improvements in this area, however potential risks should not be underestimated. Food and drug scandals involving serious crimes have had an extremely bad social impact.
As living standards in China increase, one of the most important tasks for the government is to protect and improve the livelihood of the people. High GDP growth is not enough.
Food and drug safety has significant economic implications. The industries are two important pillars of the economy. The food industry alone accounts for 10 percent of China's total industrial output. The population's increasing demand for food could become a powerful driving force for expanding domestic consumption and promoting economic development. If people lose confidence in these industries, it will severely hinder economic development.
Food and drug problems can lead to major political fallouts. In our highly technological modern society, people are concerned about health and safety. .Even a minor matter can spread rapidly and has the potential to become a focus of public and media attention. Without sound management, minor, local issues can evolve into major problems, causing major public crises and corroding the government's credibility.
Resolute reform of food and drug administration is necessary.
Rules and regulations deal with long-term and fundamental problems. The key to ensuring food and drug safety lies in establishing a strict regulatory system covering the processes of production, distribution and consumption. The Chinese government has established the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) to deal with weak links in the current system. The next focus will be local-level reform.
We should integrate the functions and institutions of the food and drug safety supervision system. The essence of the current reform is to integrate and strengthen the current system. Local governments should merge the functions of the existing departments, to avoid overlaps and strengthen supervision of "blind spots."
We should ensure the supply of personnel, funds and material. The newly established administration has great pressure and responsibility. Supervisory organs must be strengthened to ensure that departments at all levels are fully capable of performing their duties. If personnel are simply transferred from existing departments and institutions to a new one without further consideration, the newly formed CFDA will in reality be weak.
The local administrations of CFDA should be established carefully. Food and drug safety management is like treading on thin ice. The longer the transition period, the more problems there may be. The State Council has set a reform timetable for provincial, municipal and county level food and drug administrations. Departments should speed up their work to ensure completion of all objectives.
We need to ensure all relevant parties perform their duty. The new regulator will be responsible for food and drug safety supervision while the Ministry of Agriculture will regulate agricultural products.
Food safety is a broad concept. Improving food safety requires overall planning and supervision.
Food and drug safety needs to be improved comprehensively.
Enterprises should assume responsibility for quality problems. When a problem occurs, economic and legal means should be applied in order to punish producers. Severe punishment is a strong deterrent to those who produce unsafe products. In the future, specific provisions should be added to the Food Safety Law to improve the current food and drug civil compensation.
Food and drug safety concerns everyone. A supervision system should be designed under which all citizens help the government to supervise food and drug safety. In this way, those who violate laws and regulations will have nowhere to hide.
Science and technology, especially information technology, should be applied to improve the regulatory efficiency. We should extend the pilot zones to the whole country step by step.
We must accelerate institutional reform and transformation of functions to raise the level of food and drug administration. This is of the utmost importance.
The author is a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, and a vice premier of the State Council.)
This article was translated by Li Huiru. Its original unabridged version was published in Chinese.
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