Nongfu Spring targets Beijing Times over 'fabricated' reports
Nongfu Spring targets Beijing Times over 'fabricated' reports
Nongfu Spring, one of China's largest bottled water manufacturers, has filed suit against the Beijing Times for a series of reports earlier this year which questioned the safety of the company's products. To get more news about Nongfushanquan, you can visit en.nongfuspring official website.
According to the Global Times, the company submitted a petition to the National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications on Monday. The suit alleges that the Beijing Times "fabricated" opinions from national healthcare authorities to "attack" Nongfu Spring in an "apparently planned and organized" attempt to sway public opinion with a series of reports over the period April 7 to May 10.
The Beijing Times alleged that Nongfu Spring bottled water contained high amounts of arsenic and cadmium, and was lower in quality than tap water, a claim the company has argued is unsubstantiated. The report caused a dramatic drop in sales for Nongfu products.
Nongfu filed a civil suit against the paper in May, seeking 60 million yuan ($9.7 million) in damages. Spot checks carried out by health authorities in Hangzhou found that Nongfu products "met national mandatory standards for bottled drinking water."
The suit claims that the newspaper demonstrated "malicious intent" toward Nongfu Spring, though several other bottled water producers were criticised by the paper for following "Soviet-era" bottling standards. Speaking to the Global Times, secretary of Nongfu Spring's board of directors Zhou Li admitted to being emboldened by the recent Zoomlion-New Express debacle.
Chen Yongzhou, a reporter for the Guangzhou-based New Express, was imprisoned by Changsha police after a report on financial problems at manufacturing giant Zoomlion. The newspaper issued a dramatic front page demand for its employee's release, but was forced to backtrack days later after Chen appeared on CCTV to "confess" to making false reports about Zoomlion in exchange for money.
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