When oversight of the "responsibility field" is left barren, "glue ginseng" is bound to run wild

At the Famous Premium City in the Harbin Antarctic Wholesale Market in Heilongjiang, reporters found that merchants were actually gluing ginseng scraps onto ginseng with 502 glue, passing off inferior goods as high quality and fakes as genuine. In addition, lingzhi spore powder, forest frog oil, deer penis and deer blood were also counterfeited, and even the quality inspection certificates were fake certificates that merchants had paid people to fabricate. When reporters asked whether anyone was regulating such practices, the answer they got was this: "I don't know what the laws are like in your area, but around here it's fine, nobody really regulates it." (Peninsula Morning Post, May 4)

Fake, fake, fake, cheat, cheat, cheat. The media investigation tells us that in this market, almost every pore of every "specialty" tonic oozes the blood of counterfeit and shoddy goods and filthy things, and almost every merchant, driven by profit, comfortably tramples integrity underfoot. Counterfeit and shoddy "specialties" run rampant and grow wildly, becoming the stars of the market and impossible to guard against. They not only defraud consumers, but are also very likely to bring risks to consumers' health. They are truly hateful and infuriating.

In fact, "glue ginseng" is nothing new. In recent years, its misdeeds have been exposed by many media outlets, and it has even "had the honor" of being included as an entry in "Baidu Baike," while hidden rules such as passing off ox penis as deer penis were long ago revealed by industry insiders. Clearly, the chaos involving "specialties" that the media discovered this time at the Famous Premium City in the Harbin Antarctic Wholesale Market is not an isolated phenomenon in one market, but has a certain universality in other similar markets and has existed for a long time.

Why can counterfeit and shoddy "specialties" such as "glue ginseng" flourish so freely? Merchants have already given the answer: "nobody really regulates it." The "disguise techniques" or "face-changing tricks" of "glue ginseng" and other counterfeit and shoddy "specialties" are not sophisticated at all, and the quality inspection certificates forged by merchants are obviously fake, full of loopholes and impossible to withstand scrutiny. If regulatory authorities fulfilled their duties and strengthened oversight, it would be easy to see through the true face of fake and inferior "specialties" such as "glue ginseng," and not difficult to drive them out of the market or bar them from the market gate. Yet, regrettably and anxiously, the regulators have been absent from their posts. Whether the regulators' absence is due to insufficient attention, lack of responsibility, numb indifference, or to outdated mechanisms and methods, too little effort expended, or to dirty hands, local protectionism and other reasons, it is all dereliction and malfeasance of duty, and it will all lead to the barrenness of the regulatory responsibility field. And when the regulatory responsibility field is barren, it provides a loose and suitable living environment for weeds and harmful grasses such as "glue ginseng." Weeds and harmful grasses such as "glue ginseng" are then bound to run wild, and market integrity is bound to wither.

Clearly, to eradicate weeds and harmful grasses such as "glue ginseng" from the market, regulators must fulfill their responsibilities and must take good care of their responsibility fields. Regulators must strengthen their sense of responsibility, sense of duty and sense of self-discipline, and show the greatest sincerity and determination to educate operators, regulate the market and implement the law. Of course, relying only on the spontaneous efforts of regulators is far from enough. Discipline inspection and supervision departments, as well as social forces, must strengthen oversight of regulators' performance of duties, supervise and urge regulators to perform their duties according to law, actively and conscientiously. Whoever leaves the regulatory responsibility field barren should be reported, exposed and held accountable. Effective external oversight is an effective guarantee for regulators to cultivate their responsibility fields well.