PARALYMPICS / Spotlight

Tight watch on drug dealers to continue

Xinhua
Updated: 2008-09-05 09:48

 

Officials of the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) will maintain a close watch on the production and sale of performance-enhancing drugs during the Beijing Paralympic Games.

"Inspectors are inspecting pharmaceutical companies and retailers in Beijing and Qingdao, where the sailing events will take place," SFDA spokeswoman, Yan Jiangying, said on Wednesday.

The inspections are to ensure no violation of the country's anti-doping regulations take place, Yan said.

She said anti-doping efforts during the Beijing Olympics were a success. No illegal production or trading of performance-enhancing drugs was discovered.

"The SFDA will adopt the same strict anti-doping police for the Paralympic Games because they are as important as the Olympics," Yan said.

She said John Fahey, president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, had praised China's comprehensive anti-doping efforts, which involved the SFDA, the ministries of health, public security and industry, state administrations of customs, commerce and sports, and the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG).

China's regulations stipulate that all medical professionals must be properly trained in the prescription of medicines containing performance-enhancing substances.

In March, the SFDA ordered all pharmaceutical plants to carry warnings on their products so as to prevent athletes from mistakenly taking banned substances.

In April, the administration, in cooperation with public security and health departments, inspected all drug manufacturers and retailers for illegal production and selling of stimulants.

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