Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi called on Thursday for an all-out effort
to ensure food and drug safety through improved supervision, supply
and rule of law.
Wu made the call at the opening of the annual working conference
on the supervision of food and drug safety. She pledged to
ceaselessly deepen the current special safety campaign.
Wu praised the food and drug administrations for achievements in
restructuring the supervisory system.
"Food and drug safety is directly linked to the health and
safety of the people," she stressed, urging the supervisory
authorities to further implement the Scientific Concept of
Development, the essence of the 17th National Congress of the
Communist Party of China (CPC), which was held last October.
The special campaign on food and drug safety should focus on
grassroots units, rural areas and exurbs where food is grown for
cities, she said.
She called for carefully implementing measures to ensure food
and drug supplies to the Olympics host city of Beijing and five
co-host mainland cities -- Shenyang, Qinghuangdao, Tianjin, Qingdao
and Shanghai.
Meanwhile, the government would introduce an on-line supervisory
network, she said. This would enable the government to ensure the
supply of common use pharmaceuticals and give the public easier and
more affordable access to common use medicines.
She called for transparent governance in the supervision of food
and drug safety and said it should be a fundamental, long-term and
strategic task to build up a group of supervisors who are honest,
pragmatic and put people's interest first.
At the meeting, Wu gave awards to units and individuals for
exemplary work in the field.
Shao Mingli, director of the SFDA, presided over the conference,
which was attended by relevant officials from central government
departments and leaders of food and drug organs from 31 provinces,
municipalities and autonomous regions.
(Xinhua News Agency February 1, 2008)
