The Epoch Times Sep 17, 2008
This 15-month-old child developed kidney stones from contaminated baby formula. (China Photos/Getty Images)
Melamine, a banned chemical, was discovered in infant milk formula produced by 22 dairy companies nationwide during a inspection of 109 Chinese diary companies, according to a September 16 report from Xinhua Net.
According to the report, China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (GAQSIQ) have found the chemical melamine in 69 batches of baby formula made by 22 dairy producers in China, including well-known brands Sanlu, Mengniu, Yalishi, and Yili, a Beijing Olympics sponsor.
GAQSIQ said that test samples were selected from 491 batches of products sold by all the 109 dairy companies. Among all the samples, the Sanlu brand has the highest melamine content, 2,563 milligrams per kilogram. In other brands, the melamine content ranged from 0.09 milligram to 619 milligrams per kilogram.
No melamine had been found in the dairy products supplied to the Beijing Olympics and the Paralympics, and in the liquid milk produced after September 14.
As of today, a total of 6,244 infants have sickened after being fed the tainted baby formula, including three dead. Among those, 1,327 babies in more than 10 provinces remain hospitalized and 158 babies for acute kidney failure, according to Health Minister Chen Zhu.
Some Internet users in China called on the authorities to thoroughly inspect all brands of infant milk powder and liquid milk products for the people’s health.
A message posted in Baidu said: “How sad it is that the Yili products that Chinese people consume contain melamine while the products supplied to the Olympic Games are free of it!”
Many parents expressed their grief that they had to feed their babies with the tainted baby formula because they couldn’t afford expensive imported formulas.
Read this article in Chinese.
1 Comment
September 20, 2008 at 12:39 pm
This incident is so sad. Imagine a child that age having to pass kidney stones. Imagine the stress for the parents, knowing they can’t comfort him.