The three were given sentences ranging from one and a half to three years for selling bogus vaccine that lead to the death of more than 500 pigs and losses of 328,250 yuan ($44,280) for a company in Jiangling county, Hubei province.

Police in Jiangling had also charged a local vaccine inspection official with "dereliction of duty" for his involvement in the case, the paper added.

China has been struggling to contain blue-ear disease, also known as Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome, since May 2006. The infection that has killed about a million pigs in the country and fuelled rises to inflation. A vaccine has now been developed in China and is proving very successful in controling

Further Reading

- Go to our previous news item on this story by clicking here.