Woman sued over weight-loss capsules

A woman is being sued by the People’s Procuratorate of Hongkou District for selling weight-loss capsules said to contain a banned substance that could increase the risk of heart disease.

Procurators said Zhang Ming had hired people to pack capsules she had purchased in bulk and sold them online together with legal weight-reduction products to customers throughout China, including Shanghai.

They said police had seized more than 400,000 capsules from a warehouse company Zhang set up in Guangzhou. Tests found sibutramine in most of the capsules, they added.

Sibutramine can suppress the appetite, but also increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and strokes.

China withdrew it from the market in October 2010.

The procuratorate said it had lodged both criminal and civil lawsuits against Zhang, asking for a public apology and the payment of 248,000 yuan (US$39,000) in punitive compensation.