Local media said the application stemmed from a personal dispute

The company applied last month to call its range of pesticides and poisons after Zheng Xiaoyu, the sacked head of the State Food and Drug Administration.

But the authorities ruled that Mr Zheng, although under investigation, had a right to protect his name.

The former top official is currently facing allegations of corruption.

China's Xinhua news agency said that the national trademark administrator had rejected the application.

"It is against China's trademark laws to use a name that has adverse effects on society as a trademark," the agency quoted official sources as saying.

Xinhua suggested the application could have been caused by a personal dispute between the company - Shenyang Feilong Pharmaceutical Company - and Mr Zheng, who had reportedly ruled against one of its drugs in 1999.

Mr Zheng is facing allegations he used his administration's drug approval powers to obtain bribes.

Last week he was expelled from the Communist Party after a disciplinary committee ruled he should be "severely punished".