Toxic Capsules Help the Medicine Go Down In China
Hou Zhihui breaks open a cold-medicine capsule, pours the powder on to a piece of steamed dough and folds it together. He passes the miniature bun to a colleague who pops it in her mouth. That is his response to the discovery of 77 million capsules made of industrial gel containing chromium, a carcinogenic heavy metal, the latest in a series of safety problems blighting China's healthcare industry, including the widespread manufacture of fake drugs.