Tainted milk affects 50,000 Chinese

22/09/2008| IslamWeb

The extent of China's contaminated milk scandal has escalated dramatically after the government revealed that more than 53,000 babies have so far needed treatment.

Of these affected, nearly 13,000 have had to be hospitalized, according to figures posted on a government website on Monday.

At least four babies have died and more than 100 are reported to be in a serious condition.

In addition, 39,965 children had "received clinical treatment and advice" before being sent home, the posting said.

All of the children affected consumed baby milk formula believed to have been contaminated with melamine - a toxic chemical used in plastic manufacturing.

Kidney stones

Melamine is rich in nitrogen and as a result can be added to water-diluted milk to fool quality checks which use nitrogen levels to measure protein content.

Consuming the chemical can cause kidney stones and other painful complications.

On Sunday, Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, visited hospitals in Beijing in a bid to reassure an anxious public that the government was acting.

"The public is worried, doctors are worried, and we're also worried," Wen told parents and staff, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.

"The most crucial point is that after a clean-up there can be no problems at all with newly produced milk products. If there are fresh problems, they must be even more sternly punished under the law."

The government has promised free treatment for children affected by the scandal, but many parents have said they are worried about costs and long-term complications.

Recalls

So far Chinese authorities have recalled milk and dairy products from 22 companies after samples were found to contain melamine.

But on Sunday, a senior World Health Organization official criticized the Chinese government for not acting fast enough or being transparent enough.

"It seems that some people already knew about this problem for sometime but did not share the information," said Doctor Shigeru Omi, the WHO director for the western Pacific.

Most of the infants affected are thought to have children consumed formula from one company, the Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group.

Meanwhile, China's food quality watchdog said it had found melamine in nearly 10 per cent of milk and drinking yoghurt samples from three major dairy companies; Mengniu Dairy Co, the Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group and the Bright group.

The scare over Chinese dairy products has also spread beyond China itself with several countries including Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan all imposing import bans.

In Singapore on Sunday, food safety officials announced that White Rabbit candy, a popular Chinese brand of milk sweet, had been found to be contaminated with melamine.

PHOTO CAPTION

A staff removes tainted milk products off shelves at a supermarket in Tianjin municipality September 18, 2008.

Al-Jazeera