And The Family Will Be Billed For The Bullet

China, home to a over a billion fine citizens, just thinned their ranks by a factor of 1.

In an awesome move, China executed Zheng Xiaoyu, former director of its food and drug agency for approving fake medicine in exchange for cash. Trying to step up their public image, Beijing is tackling product safety and trying to safeguard food at next summer's Olympic Games.

During Zheng Xiaoyu's tenure as head of the State Food and Drug Administration from 1997 to 2006, the agency approved six untested drugs that turned out to be fake, and some drug-makers used falsified documents to apply for approvals, resulting in the deaths of at least 10 people.

Fears abroad over Chinese-made drugs were sparked last year by the deaths of dozens of people in Panama who took medicine contaminated with diethylene glycol — a thickening agent used in antifreeze — imported from China. Chinese-made toothpaste containing diethylene glycol has been banned in North and South America and Asia, and two brands of toothpaste sold in Spain were pulled from the shelves after the substance was found. By the way, China has no guideline banning the chemical in toothpaste, which the government conveniently says is harmless in small amounts.

In the United States and Canada, pet food containing Chinese wheat gluten tainted with the chemical melamine has been blamed for the deaths of dogs and cats. Since then, U.S. authorities have turned away or recalled toxic fish, juice containing unsafe color additives and popular toy trains decorated with lead paint.

But the real story is the execution of the former government official. In case you're keeping track, China is believed to carry out more court-ordered executions than all other nations combined, which I think the most reasonable way to confront the country's poor product safety record.

Zheng, 63, was convicted of taking cash and gifts worth $832,000 when he was in charge of the food and drug agency. Recently, Cao Wenzhuang, another former director at the food and drug agency, was sentenced to death last week for accepting bribes and dereliction of duty but was given a two-year reprieve.

Meanwhile, authorities promised to investigate water purity after a newspaper reported that more than half of the water coolers in Beijing use counterfeit branded water -- either tap water or purified water from small suppliers and sealed with bogus quality standard marks.

So, in addition to dodging Chinese toothpaste and water, expect more death sentences. For a country full of peasants, they have a remarkably keen idea of justice...