US safety inspector to start role in China

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON, April 21 (Reuters) - Simply sending inspectors to China and other countries will not be enough to make sure food and drugs are safe and independent certification may be the best solution, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said on Monday.

He said Christopher Hickey, the U.S. agency's Asia and Pacific director, was preparing to set up an office to strengthen oversight of food, drugs and devices imported from China.

But ultimately, Leavitt said, regulation is not the answer and he called for a new industry of global independent certification of farms, factories and other producers.

Leavitt, just back from a trip to Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam, said he believes U.S. officials need to set up shop in several regions. "I believe there is a need for us to be in India," he said, naming Central America and Vietnam as well.

"We are beginning to lay the groundwork for our presence in those countries," Leavitt said, saying he would visit China in May, and Central America and Mexico in June.

"We'd like to have the capacity to inspect," Leavitt added. "We anticipate that we will ratchet that presence up."

That may include deploying teams of experts from the United States as needed. But this will not be enough to ensure imports are safe, he said.

"Instead of trying to inspect everything, we need to build quality in," Leavitt said.

Independent certification may be the way to do this, he said, adding that he sees a potential new worldwide industry built around professional independent certification agencies.

GLOBAL DILEMMA

The United States, European Union and other large governments would need to coordinate standards to have it work, Leavitt said. "This is a global dilemma," he said.

Retailers could also help put pressure on producers in other countries. Leavitt said U.S. stores forced small Indian farmers to label red peppers used in spices, for example.

"If you want access to American consumers, you need to meet American standards and you need to be able to demonstrate that you meet American standards," he said.

China and the United States have tangled over a series of health-related scandals -- first the discovery of high levels of lead in toys, and, most lately, contaminated heparin.

Baxter International Inc recalled most of its heparin products in February after at least 62 reported deaths and other severe reactions among patients treated with the blood thinner, which is used to prevent blood clots.

The active ingredient is derived from pig intestines and often collected from small, mostly unregulated farms in China.

U.S. officials said an altered form of chondroitin sulfate was to blame, but on Monday a Chinese health official said something else must have caused the reactions.

Leavitt said he was confident Chinese officials would deal with the matter. "The 'Made in China' brand gets hurt and China knows that," Leavitt said, adding that he expects Chinese officials to take strong action when they track down the source of the heparin contamination.

"They've taken strong action in the past," he noted.

In July, China executed the former head of the State Food and Drug Administration for taking bribes to let medicine companies slip past his regulatory net.

Leavitt said he was concerned when he saw how little regulation China has of drug and device manufacturing.

"We are concerned that there is a gap, that some of their companies refer to themselves as chemical companies," he said.

(Editing by Will Dunham and Doina Chiacu)