6200 Chinese Babies Ill from Contaminated Milk; Three Dead

By Anastacia Mott Austin

After the 2007 imported Chinese pet food scare that caused more than 1500 pet deaths in the United States, regulations on the chemical additive melamine were supposed to become tighter.

It appears as though controls have not been strict enough, as the Chinese government announced this week that melamine-tainted milk in infant formula has caused more than 6,000 infants to become ill. Two deaths had been reported, and a third formula-related death was discovered this week.

Widespread testing has revealed that 69 separate batches of formula from 22 different companies contained dangerous levels of the chemical.

Melamine, a chemical additive, was allegedly added by suppliers who wanted watered-down milk to appear normal, can cause kidney stones and severe kidney stress.

More than 1300 Chinese infants remain hospitalized with melamine-related kidney stones or other kidney problems. Of those hospitalized, 158 are in acute kidney failure.

The Sanlu Group, a supplier of formula, issued a recall of their tainted products last week, though they had noted that they’d received consumer complaints as early as March and had known of the presence of melamine since early August, but had not issued a recall until more than a month later. Officials from the Sanlu Group could not be reached for comment about the delay.

Three other formula manufacturing companies also issued recalls this week.

Representatives of the Chinese government told reporters that in response to the crisis, 5,000 inspectors have been dispatched to formula-producing companies to oversee testing of their milk products for the presence of melamine.

In its official statement, the Chinese government’s state run Xinhua news outlet said that the crisis had been created by "chaotic industry conditions and loopholes in the supervision and management of the industry. It is necessary to learn lessons, properly deal with the incident, improve the inspection and supervision system and strengthen the management of the dairy industry."

At least two of the companies involved export their products to other countries, including Burma, Burundi, Yemen, Gabon, and Bangladesh. Currently the United States does not import infant formula from China.