Banned chemical leads to recall

BEIJING - China's top drug authority ordered the recall at the weekend of an antibiotic medicine that is laced with a banned plasticizer as public concern about plasticizer-tainted products builds.

Test results showed that amoxicillin and clavulanate potassium for suspension manufactured by the leading healthcare company GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) contained traces of Di-isodecyl phthalate (DIDP), which is used mainly as an additive in plastics to make them more flexible, said an online statement issued by the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) on Saturday.

The administration ordered the immediate halt of its sale and use and recalled any of the product that had entered the mainland market.