Japan - Trio arrested over illegal pig influenza vaccine production
Published:October 27, 2004
Source :Mainichi Daily News
A former executive of a chemical firm and two others who produced unauthorized drugs to treat pigs produced for food have been arrested on suspicion of violating the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law, police said.
The arrests come in the wake of an incident in which unauthorized chemicals were allegedly given to pigs. The three have generally admitted to the allegations against them.
Arrested were Seiji Shimada, 51, a former executive of the Donan Yakuhin medical company and former head of the production business headquarters of Nippon Swine Farm; Tadashi Murai, 45, a medicine veterinarian at Donan; and Junichi Uemura, 48, a pharmacist at Donan.
Investigators accuse the three of producing 268 liters of a vaccine to prevent a type of pig influenza and other illnesses at the medical company between Jan. 4, 2002, and Aug. 31 that year without authorization from the farm minister.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries had filed a criminal complaint with prosecutors, accusing Donan Yakuhin of buying an imported vaccine that had not received authorization, and selling it to Nippon Swine Farm for injection into pigs at the farm.
