Suraj wrote:Also, constantly posting every piece of bad news from China just acts as a flame for moths. Just how does using this thread as glorified troll bait help us understand their economy ?
Just did a google on china and news reports from different news agencies including chinese can be classified as "flame for moths". sorry for posting these but the melamine scandal is too big and may effect us too after toi reported an unusual rise in imports of milk from china and with milk inspectors getting beaten up in china for implementing "tough new safety checks" this melamine saga is not going to end soon.
Deaths uncounted in China's tainted milk scandal
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 01293.html
By CHARLES HUTZLER
The Associated Press
Saturday, November 15, 2008; 1:49 PM
LITI VILLAGE, China -- Li Xiaokai died of kidney failure on the old wooden bed in the family farmhouse, just before dawn on a drizzly Sept. 10.
Her grandmother wrapped the 9-month-old in a wool blanket. Her father handed the body to village men for burial by a muddy creek. The doctors and family never knew why she got sick. A day later, state media reported that the type of infant formula she drank had been adulterated with an industrial chemical.
Yet the deaths of Xiaokai and at least four other babies are not included in China's official death toll from its worst food safety scare in years. The Health Ministry's count stands at only three deaths.
The stories of these uncounted babies suggest that China's tainted milk scandal has exacted a higher human toll than the government has so far acknowledged. Without an official verdict on the deaths, families worry they will be unable to bring lawsuits and refused compensation.
So far, nobody is suggesting large numbers of deaths are being concealed. But so many months passed before the scandal was exposed that it's likely more babies fell sick or died than official figures reflect.
Beijing's apparent reluctance to admit a higher toll is reinforcing perceptions that the authoritarian government cares more about tamping down criticism than helping families. Lawyers, doctors and reporters have said privately that authorities pressured them to not play up the human cost or efforts to get compensation from the government or Sanlu, the formula maker.
"It's hard to say how the government will handle this matter," said Zhang Xinkui, a Beijing-based lawyer amassing evidence of the contamination for a possible lawsuit. "There may be many children who perhaps died from drinking Sanlu powdered milk or perhaps from a different cause. But there's no system in place to find out."
In the weeks since Xiaokai's death, her father and his older brother have talked to lawyers and beseeched health officials, with no result.
"My heart is in pain," said her father, Li Xiaoquan, a short, taciturn farmer with hooded eyes. From a corner of his farmhouse courtyard in central China's wheat and corn flatlands, he pulls a worn green box that once held apples and is now stuffed with empty pink wrappers of the Sanlu Infant Formula Milk Powder that Xiaokai nursed on. "We think someone, the company, should compensate us."
In coal-mining country 450 miles to the northwest, Tian Xiaowei waits for his wife to leave the newly built house before removing five small photos of a wide-eyed baby boy from a brown plastic document folder. "She breaks down when she sees them," Tian said. The photos are the only mementos left of year-old Tian Jin, who died in August.
"I want these people who poisoned the milk powder to receive the severest punishment under law. I want an explanation and I want consolation for my dead child," said Tian, a broad-shouldered apple farmer and part-time truck driver. "I feel like we could die from regret. If we knew that it was contaminated, we would never have fed him that."
Since September, when the scandal was first reported, Beijing has said that Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group Co., the dairy, knew as early as last year that its products were tainted with melamine and that company and local officials first tried to cover it up.
The government has promised free medical treatment to the 50,000 children sickened, and unspecified compensation to them and families of the dead. The Health Ministry, which is coordinating the government's response, declined to answer questions about the compensation plan and whether it was investigating deaths and illnesses not yet counted by the government.
Melamine, a chemical used as a flame retardant and binding agent to make cooking utensils and industrial coatings, is rich in nitrogen. As such, it makes an attractive low-cost additive to milk and other foods; nitrogen registers as protein on many routine tests.
Though melamine is not believed harmful in tiny amounts, higher concentrations produce kidney stones, which can block the ducts that carry urine from the body, and in serious cases can cause kidney failure.
All eight babies who died were diagnosed with kidney failure, according to the families, medical records or state media accounts. All also supposedly drank Sanlu infant formula or powdered milk.
The fathers of Li Xiaokai and Tian Jin both wave inch-thick sheaves of medical reports and tests from their children's stays in hospitals. Xiaokai, a twin older than her sister Xiaoyan by three minutes, was fed with Sanlu formula while the younger girl nursed on breast milk because their mother did not have enough for both, family members said.
An ultrasound examination of Xiaokai's kidneys at the Zhengzhou Children's Hospital on Aug. 21 found a stone in each kidney that was about the size of a small marble and 2 1/2 times larger than what doctors consider a critical threshold.
Tian Xiaowei, the apple farmer, sent bags of Sanlu infant formula to a government laboratory in September. The Xi'an Product Quality Supervision Institute's report, dated Oct. 8, found melamine levels of 1,748 milligrams per kilogram, more than 800 times the government-set limit.
Then there's Wang Siyu, the daughter of an accountant and proprietor of an Internet cafe in the central city of Shangqiu. Siyu was fed Sanlu products from birth and developed recurring kidney problems in May last year, at age 3, said her mother, Li Songmei.
Twice hospitalized, she was taken off Sanlu milk and started to recover, only to fall ill again when the family began to give her Sanlu products, Li said. Sick for a third time and swollen, she died of kidney failure at the Zhengzhou Children's Hospital on May 2, said Li.
"Ever since she was born, she had been using Sanlu milk. Only when she felt sick and couldn't eat did she stop taking Sanlu," said Li.
Others among the five include an infant in far western Xinjiang province, whose story was posted on the provincial government Web site, and a 6-month-old boy in southeastern Jiangxi province, reported by the New Legal Daily. A reporter who worked on the article and would give only his surname, Liu, said the newspaper was careful not to blame Cai Cong's death on Sanlu formula because "the local government has not yet reached a verdict."
Medical experts say kidney stones in infants are rare. Doctors in several parts of China first noticed a rise in cases in the past two years. Pediatric urologist Feng Dongchuan tried to sound an alarm, posting an item on his blog in July about a spike in cases at his hospital in the central city of Xuzhou and in nearby Nanjing city. Feng pinpointed infant formula as the likely cause.
Feng at first refused requests for interviews, then responded in a terse e-mail: "The chance for infants or small children to come down with kidney stones is very small, and having stones that obstruct both kidneys is even more rare."
Like the others, the Li family grew distressed when Xiaokai started to become fussy in July. With their two-acre farm in Liti Village, her parents never had much money and already had a child, a son. But they wanted a larger family, bucking the one-child family planning limits. Xiaokai was "the more active" of the twins, said her 70-year-old grandmother, Li Xuan.
By August, Xiaokai was running a high fever, unabated by ever higher doses of medicine. Alarmed after she stopped eating and urinating, the family took her to the nearby Runnan county hospital on Aug. 18. The doctors diagnosed kidney failure and rushed her overnight by ambulance to Zhengzhou Children's Hospital, three hours away and the best in Henan province.
"They knew right away," said the father, Li. Xiaokai was run through tests and put on intravenous solutions to try to shrink the kidney stones. Unable to stay with her or afford a hotel, Li and his mother slept on the pavement outside the hospital. After five days, the hospital said it could do no more.
"The doctors wouldn't operate because they said 'she's too small,'" said Li. They suggested taking Xiaokai to Beijing or Shanghai. Hospital officials declined comment and refused to make Xiaokai's doctor available.
The hospital stay in Zhengzhou cost 7,331 yuan, or $1,070 _ about a year's cash income for the family _ and they had already borrowed money to pay for Xiaokai's care.
So Li brought Xiaokai home to die. They took her to a traditional medicine doctor in the village, who gave her an herbal medicine and confirmed the grim prognosis. "The old doctor told us 'the child will die in 10 to 18 days,'" Li said.
Early on Sept. 10 while it was still dark, the grandmother called Li into the side room where she and Xiaokai slept. "Her stomach was puffy" _ a sign of kidney failure _ "and she wasn't breathing," he said.
In many parts of north China, the death of a child is considered a misfortune that can bring bad luck on a family and is best suppressed. Accordingly, Li Haiqin, a cousin, and three other men took Xiaokai to a creek on the far side of the village fields. They put a brick in the blanket with the body and placed it in a shallow hole under a path between rows of poplar trees. Then they walked back in silence beneath a gray dawn and a light rain. No close family members were there and none was told where the grave is.
Xiaokai's family says Beijing had waived regular inspections of Sanlu because its quality controls were said to be excellent. "The government should shoulder its responsibility. This was a national brand, inspection-exempt products," said Xiaokai's uncle, Li Shenyi.
Since the death, Li Shenyi approached the Runnan county Health Bureau to classify Xiaokai's death as caused by tainted formula. "They said the upper levels (of government) were working on it," he said.
The county health bureau referred calls to its supervisors in Zhumadian city, who said ultimately it was up to Beijing.
"Right now, the Health Ministry has no clear explanation on how the victim's families should be compensated," said a Ms. Shang at the Zhumadian Health Bureau's medical affairs office. "Nobody knows."
Timeline: China milk scandal
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7720404.stm
14 November 2008
Dangerously high levels of the industrial chemical melamine have been found in powdered baby milk and other dairy products in China, sparking worldwide safety concerns. The BBC looks at how the saga unfolded.
10 Sept: China reveals that 14 babies fell ill in Gansu province over the previous two months. All drank the same brand of milk powder. Cases start being reported around China.
12 Sept: Sanlu Group admits that its milk powder was contaminated with the toxic chemical melamine.
13 Sept: Production halts at Sanlu Group. Nineteen people are arrested.
15 Sept: Beijing confirms two babies have died. Vice-President of the Sanlu Group apologises to the public.
19 Sept: Melamine is found in ordinary milk from three well-known dairies. One of the firms involved - Mengniu dairy - recalls all its products.
22 Sept: Toll of ill babies rises to 53,000, and the death toll to at least four. The head of China's quality watchdog resigns, becoming the first national leader to step down because of the scandal.
23 Sept: Countries across Asia start to either test Chinese dairy products or pull them from shops.
26 Sept: The EU bans Chinese baby food with milk traces. Sales of the popular sweet White Rabbit are halted after tests detect melamine.
29 Sept: Cadbury recalls products in Asia after tests find traces of melamine. Reports say 22 people have been arrested in Hebei province, suspected of introducing melamine into the supply chain.
15 Oct: Nearly 6,000 infants remain in hospital across China for kidney diseases. Six are in a serious condition.
21 Oct: About 1,500 racoon dogs bred for their fur on a farm in China die of kidney failure after eating feed tainted with melamine.
23 Oct: Six more people are arrested in connection with the tainted milk scandal.
26 Oct: Hong Kong authorities discover eggs produced by Dalian Hanwei Group's eggs contain melamine. They are pulled off the shelves.
30 Oct: Two more egg brands from Shanxi and Hubei provinces are found to contain melamine.
31 Oct: State media admit that melamine is probably being routinely added to Chinese animal feed.
2 Nov: A Chinese official insists the egg scandal is an individual case and clamps down on illegal producers of feed.
14 Nov: The US issues a nationwide "import alert" for Chinese-made food products.
Post China food scare Food importers still unsure
Nov 16, 2008
They are unsure of public reaction to China-made products as ban is lifted in phases
By Debbie Yong and Tessa Wong
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2B ... 02939.html
ONE quick-to-act food importer did not waste time after a melamine scare led to a blanket ban here on the sale of all China-made milk products.
The Sept 19 ban is being lifted progressively over three weeks, starting last Tuesday, with tests being carried out in phases.
To cut its losses, the firm sent two tonnes of its recalled China- made but melamine-free crackers to South-east Asian countries without such a blanket ban.
'Why would you want to throw away goods that are perfectly okay?' said a spokesman, who did not want his firm to be identified.
Two other China-made products it imported had tested positive for melamine and all six tonnes were destroyed last Friday, he added.
The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) announced last Tuesday that China-made milk products that passed final tests will gradually be allowed back on shelves here. The ban will be lifted in three phases, according to a product's risk of being tainted with melamine based on its milk content level.
Fresh milk imports from China are still banned, while products made in China using milk from other countries will be released for sale only when importers submit proof of the sources of milk ingredients.
News of the lifting of the blanket ban had brought relief to importers who pulled stocks off shelves though theirs were not among the 13 products proven to be tainted.
Said the director of one firm which had 10 untainted biscuit products: 'We're an innocent party but we understand public concern and the need for AVA's actions.'
Her company spent about $3,000 conducting tests to prove its products were clean. Operating costs increased by 30 to 50 per cent for the month of September due to the recalls. The firm's products have a shelf-life of up to two years, so losses will be minimal once sales resume.
But for some, the lifting of the ban came too late.
Those faced with expiring product dates and uncertainty over when the ban would be lifted chose to destroy recalled milk products, even if they were not proven to be tainted. For instance, Meng Chong Foodstuffs, the importer for Monmilk, spent $420,000 incinerating 250 tonnes of the milk.
Some importers secured refunds from manufacturers.
Yamakawa Trading, the importer of contaminated Yili milk, received a full compensation of $300,000 from the China milk producer last Friday.Yamakawa's director Apple Ong is unsure if she will continue importing Yili products.
Other importers are similarly worried about the blow to consumer confidence in China-made milk products. 'What we will do depends on the reaction when banned items begin selling again,' said Mr Alfred Choo, marketing manager of Hup Seng, which used to bring in Mentos yogurt chewy dragees.
Yamakawa's Ms Ong added: 'It might take months or a year for manufacturers to get documentation for future imports to Singapore, and we'll have to then step up marketing and rebranding.'
China milk inspectors beaten over tough checks: state media
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/ar ... jS8QVjn-qg
1 day ago
BEIJING (AFP) — Two milk inspectors for a major China dairy firm were severely beaten in an attack blamed on suppliers angry at tough new safety checks following a tainted milk scandal, state media said Friday.
The two men were working in the northern city of Tangshan as inspectors for Mengniu, one of China's largest dairy companies, which has implemented strict new safety inspections, the China Youth Daily reported.
The attack occurred November 5 after inspector Li Zhongping had confronted an outside dairy supplier over a batch of milk he was selling that appeared not to confirm with new standards, it said.
"According to an initial analysis, this incident was triggered by (Li's) decision that this truck's milk was not in compliance," it quoted an unnamed Mengniu official as saying.
Li and another inspector, Zhang Liwei, were set on by a group of about five club-wielding men as they left work later that day.
Li was badly beaten, suffering numerous injuries over his body, including fractured vertebra, and was in a coma for "a long time", the paper said, without specifying Li's current condition.
Neither victim could identify the milk supplier nor the attackers as both inspectors had only recently been rotated to Tangshan.
Police were investigating, the paper said.
China has ordered tightened safety inspections in the dairy industry nationwide after it emerged in September that milk supplies had been tainted with the industrical chemical melamine.
The tainted products have been blamed for killing at least four infants in China and sickening more than 50,000 others in one of the worst of a string of safety scandals involving Chinese-made products in recent years.
Middlemen who collect milk from dairy farms and sell it to large firms have been blamed for adding the melamine to try to make the milk appear to contain more protein than it actually did.
The incident sparked a massive recall of dairy products in China as well as bans, recalls, or safety warnings in several export markets.
US seizes Chinese dairy food
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008 ... 207889.htm
Updated: 2008-11-15 10:02
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday said it will impound all food products with milk ingredients from China if they are found to contain melamine.
An alert notice on the agency's website said Chinese products that contain milk or milk powder will automatically be stopped at the border until the manufacturer or dealer has shown them to be free of contamination.
The announcement came two months after a raft of Chinese dairy products were found to contain melamine. The contamination caused the deaths of four infants and sickened 50,000 others.
Neither the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine nor the Ministry of Commerce had any comment yesterday on the FDA announcement.
The administration, which will open three offices in China next week, had previously banned wheat gluten products from China after pet food was suspected to contain melamine and blamed for several animal deaths.
Also, in September, the European Union banned imports of Chinese dairy products for children and infants. Several other countries, including Singapore and Russia, followed suit.
Chinese exporters said the latest move by the FDA came as no surprise.
Tong Xun, a senior manager with the Zhangjiagang-based Liangfeng Food Co, said on Friday: "Compared to other countries that banned China's dairy products completely, US authorities seem to be more understanding of China's situation."
The firm has not exported any chocolates or cookies - its main products - since September, he said.
"I'm afraid it will take at least six months for us to recover from this difficult time," Tong said.
