[Menu Foods] China's FDA head gets death penalty

[asterroc]

Zheng Xiaoyu, former director of China's State Food and Drug Administration, was sentenced to death for corruption on Tuesday. AP/Reuters/MSNBC

He was guilty of accepting more than $800,000 in bribes, his actions led to the deaths of thousands of US cats and dogs a full two years after he was fired, and dozens of human deaths from tainted antibiotics, and as a result China is giving him the death penalty.

I'm not sure what to think.

Comments

[jrtom.livejournal.com]

It is a tough one. I guess it depends in large part on what one thinks about the death penalty in general (a question on which I am conflicted). It's perhaps worth noting that a death tally like that might plausibly have resulted in a war crimes tribunal under different circumstances.

I doubt that he was doing these things for the sake of killing pets and people, but I think that there is, at least, something to be said for putting "clean-hands" crimes like these on the same level as those in which the perpetrator is actually going out and killing people retail (as opposed to wholesale, as in this case).

Supposing that he were instead sentenced to community service, it might be an interesting exercise to consider what type of community service might be most appropriate. 20 years as an assistant janitor in human and veterinarian clinics, perhaps?