Nearly 13,000 in hospital as China milk scandal grows

[WhiskeyGirl]

This is very sad.  It affects a number of products from China.

Sanlu, the nation's biggest maker of infant milk powder, knew about the problem but did not disclose it publicly for at least a month throughout August, when Beijing hosted the Olympics, officials have said.

The revelation brought a surge of panicky parents and children to hospitals, and the government has promised free treatment for stricken children. But some parents said they worried about costs and long-term complications.

Zhou Zhijun, from south China's Hunan province, said she took her wailing, increasingly thin daughter to hospitals at least three times from June to late August before doctors diagnosed a kidney stone.

"All those visits and checks cost 20,000 yuan ($2,900), and I still don't know who will pay for that," she said, adding that her 15-month-old baby had drunk Sanlu milk powder. "Also what if there are complications and problems later? Who'll pay for that?"

The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture said despairing farmers were dumping milk and killing cattle after companies stopped buying their supplies. It promised subsidies to help farmers.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSPEK11155120080922?pageNumber=4&virtualBrandChannel=0

[WhiskeyGirl]

FACTBOX - Who's affected by China's milk scandal, and why?

Mon Sep 22, 2008 9:47am EDT

(Reuters) - Nearly 10 percent of milk samples from three top Chinese dairy companies have been found to be tainted with toxic melamine, China's quality watchdog has said after tests for the banned chemical that has killed four children.

WHICH COUNTRIES ARE AFFECTED?

-- Bangladesh, Brunei, Burundi, China, Gabon, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam have all either pulled products off shelves, banned China dairy imports, or stepped up their tests.

WHICH CHINESE COMPANIES ARE IMPLICATED?

-- 22 Chinese companies have been listed as producing the tainted milk powder.

WHICH INTERNATIONAL BRANDS ARE AFFECTED?

-- Swiss-brand Nestle's China-made one litre Dairy Farm UHT pure milk has been recalled from Hong Kong supermarkets after testing positive for a low level of melamine.

-- Coffee chain Starbucks fears it may have taken contaminated milk from supplier Mengniu Dairy. It has pulled the milk from its 300-plus cafes in China.

WHICH JOINT VENTURES ARE INVOLVED?

-- New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra, the business partner of Sanlu Group, China's top seller of infant milk powder and the first to go public with its melamine contamination, has not said how the scandal may affect it's 43 percent stake in Sanlu.

-- Danish-Swedish dairy cooperative Arla's Chinese joint venture Mengniu Arla's baby formula is also implicated.

WHY IS PRODUCT SAFETY A RECURRING PROBLEM?

-- Cost-cutting by local suppliers in a competitive market, coupled with inadequate product safety supervision and corruption in the national regulatory environment.

-- China's largely muzzled, compliant media also reduces the likelihood of problems coming to light as quickly as they might in countries where whistle-blowers see the press as independent.

read more here -
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUKT12657320080922?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

[jjayinthemorning]

This is quite disturbing. China uses something like the ingredient that absorbs moisture in cat little in food.
I don't even trust their microwavable plastic products. Who knows what kind of toxins that material releases when it's heated?
Consumers are so trusting of industry, it's scary!

[MSE]

To think that I lost my job in NY because they sent the work to China.  How terrible...those poor baby's.

Beware of any pharmaceutical drug.