China rejects shipment of unqualified pacemakers from US

FE Team | Published: August 22, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

BEIJING, Aug 21 (CEIS): China has returned 272 heart pacemakers imported from the United States after they failed quality inspections, China's top quality control agency announced yesterday.
The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) said the heart pacemakers, valued at about 240,000 US dollars in total, were detained by Shanghai Entry-Exit inspection and Quarantine Bureau at the end of April.
The administration said the pulse strength of the devices, made by St Jude Medical Inc, was not in line with its indicated properties.
The difference between the testing parameters and the default ones exceeded the two-per cent limit set by the Chinese technical authorities, the AQSIQ said.
The pacemakers pose potential threats to patients' lives as they could cause misdiagnoses, the statement said, citing unnamed doctors.
In 2001, China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) launched an urgent investigation into four types of pacemakers produced by St.Jude Medical Inc. because of reliability issues, resulting in imports of the pacemakers being banned.
According to the quality control agency, it would ask the producers to solve the problems and improve the quality of their products. Imports will be resumed once the problems are solved, said the AQSIQ.
Meanwhile, a US company announced yesterday it officially launched its China-based business search platform, from which internet users can search information about companies and businesses in English, Chinese and Spanish.
The launch was made at the Search Engine Strategies 2007 Conference and Expo in San Jose, California, according to a statement issued by Tyloon, a startup internet company based in Los Angeles.
Tyloon said its China business search platform has 12 million Chinese businesses listed and for the first time ever users can search them in the three languages, separately or mixed.