Illegal rat poison makers may face death penalty in China
( 2003-10-02 11:12) (Xinhua)
China will severely punish
those who engage in the illegal making, buying and selling, transporting or
storing of "dushuqiang", an arsenic-based rat poison, and other prohibited
highly toxic chemicals.
According to a regulation issued by the Supreme People's Court and Supreme
People's Procuratorate effective Oct. 1, these people will face punishment
ranging from three years in jail to the death penalty if the consequences are
serious.
The regulation stipulated that making more than 20 kilograms of the highly
toxic powder-like rat poison with more than 500 grams of raw powder or liquid
will be considered very serious, and the people held responsibility could be
sentenced to more than 10 years or life imprisonment or even death.
It will also be considered very serious if the use of the poison results in
the deaths of more than three people or their serious wounding.
Scientific research found that a mere five milligrams of " dushuqiang" is
enough to kill a human being, and the environmental pollution caused by the rat
poison is long lasting.
For instance, the needles or cones of a fir tree grown in "
dushuqiang"-polluted soil were so poisonous they could kill a rabbit that ate
them even if the tree was planted four years before.
In September last year, a farmer in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu
Province, intentionally put some "dushuqiang" into the flour and edible oil for
making snacks, which poisoned 395 people, causing 42 deaths.
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