Investigation launched into suspect chemicals
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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Defence Pharmaceutical Factory (DPF) have detected 44 tonnes of problematic precursor chemicals for paracetamol production, supplied between 2011 and 2012, according to a top official.
“The supplier imported the chemicals from China and delivered them to us,” FDA secretary-general Dr Boonchai Somboonsuk said yesterday.
The supplier is a limited partnership based in Thailand.
According to Boonchai, the FDA and DPF bought 385 tonnes of precursor chemicals from this supplier over the 2011-2012 period. Of the amount, 44 tonnes were found to have problems.
“We are now investigating how much of the problematic chemicals the supplier has sent back to China,” Boonchai said.
He added that an ongoing investigation suggested that the supplier had destroyed some of the chemicals returned by the FDA and DPF, but that an unspecified amount had already been sold to a drug company.
“From what we know, that company has not used the chemical for production,” Boonchai said.
Pasit Sakdanarong, an adviser to the public health minister, said yesterday that he would look into the matter.
“Once we’ve looked into the case, I will present the relevant information to the minister,” said Pasit.
He said any official – current or retired – found to have supplied false information to the public health minister would be punished.
Pasit added that the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) had also launched a probe into the case.
Dr Niphon Popattanachai, who heads the Department of Science Service, said the DSI had already contacted his agency for an analysis of the said chemicals.
“We have already submitted the results to the DSI,” he said, without elaborating.
