Wei Chuanzhong, the vice minister of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, acknowledged that Chinese manufacturer Taixing Glycerin Factory and Chinese distributor CNSC Fortune Way "engaged in some misconduct" because they used the name "TD glycerin" for a mix of 15 percent diethylene glycol and other substances, according to The Associated Press.

"They used the very confusing name of TD glycerin [an industrial solvent], which will mislead people to think it's glycerin," Wei said. "The markings on the package also used the name glycerin instead of TD glycerin."

However, he said the Panama traders bore most of the responsibility for the deadly substance ending up in medicine, AP notes.

"The Panama trader changed or altered the paperwork to say the substance was medical glycerin that met U.S. standards for use in medical products and changed the shelf life of the already expired product from one year to four years," according to Wei. "The responsibility here is very clear."

China news agency Xinhua reports:

According to evidence provided by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and a Panamanian government statement, Panamanian merchants bought the products from the Spanish company and changed the product name to "pure glycerin," which is allowed to be used in pharmaceuticals in the United States. They also altered its shelf life to four years.

"Inquiries found that 25,020 pounds of so-called TD glycerin made by the Taixing Glycerin Factor in eastern China's Jiangsu province was sold by CNSC Fortune Way to Spain's Rasfer company in July 2003. Rasfer told the agency that the Chinese sellers made it clear that the material they were sold was for industrial use," according to the AP report.

Investigations showed that the Taixing factory used a misleading product name, "TD glycerin," which was easily misinterpreted as glycerin, and failed to clearly indicate the product ingredients, which included toxic diethylene glycol.

The company also used the trademark "Glicerine," which was also inappropriate.

Apparently, the substitution had begun months ago.

"Last year, dozens of Panamanians died after taking cough medicine which were contaminated by diethylene glycol used in place of the similar by more expensive safe compound frequently found in medicines, glycerin," according to Xinhua.

Although the country's Health Ministry General Secretary Francisco Sucre said the 2.5 percent levels of diethylene glycol included were harmless, the ministry urged consumers not to use the products.

The toothpaste and cough syrup adulterations follow on the heels of melamine — a chemical used to make plastics, fertilizer and surface coatings though not considered very toxic — being included in some of the leading American pet food brands and food given to livestock.

Reuters reports:

China acknowledged [in early May] that two Chinese companies had illegally exported contaminated wheat gluten and rive protein for pet food blamed for a spate of animal deaths in the United States. The two companies, named by the [United States] FDA as Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. Ltd. and Binzhou Futian Biology Technology Co. Ltd. evaded quality checks by labeling their products as exports not subject to inspection.

According to The New York Times, Mao Lijun, the general manager of the Chinese company accused of selling contaminated wheat gluten to pet food suppliers in the U.S. was detained by the Chinese authorities. Local authorities explained to the NYT that Chinese producers of animal feed use this practice "in an effort to elevate the level of protein to make a higher grade feed, even though the melamine has no nutritional value."

"Concerns about the quality and safety of China's agriculture exports have prompted agency regulators to ban all wheat gluten from China and to warn importers to sample or test all food and feed additives coming from there," according to Lawyers and Business Executives in the News online.

Former director of China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) Zheng Xiaoyu was sentenced to death by a Beijing court last Tuesday for taking bribes worth more than 6.49 million yuan (about US$850,000) and dereliction of duty, according to Xinhua. State media reported that drugs improperly approved by Zheng's agency included "an antibiotic that killed at least 10 patients last year before it was taken off the market."

Xinhua further points out:

Six types of medicine approved by the administration during that period were fake. Some pharmaceutical companies used false documents to apply for approvals, the court said.

Yet the vast majority of China's food and drug exports were safe, according to Li Yuanping, an official in charge of food import and export safety. "Over the past two years, the acceptance rate of China's food exports to the U.S. has hovered around 99 percent, slightly higher than that of U.S. food exports to China," Xinhua quotes Li as having said.

The Chinese have not been the only ones thinking along the lines of adding melamine to feed for animals.

In an announcement late last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated that Toledo, Ohio-based Tembec BTLSR Inc. and Johnstown, Colorado's Uniscope, Inc. "added melamine as part of the formulation of the products to improve the binding properties of pelleted feed. Melamine is not approved as an additive for animal or fish/shrimp feed." The "additive" was being used to make pelleted feed for cattle, sheep, and goats, or fish and shrimp.