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China probes all milk powder in baby health scare
12 Sep 2008 04:26:59 GMT
 Source: Reuters
BEIJING, Sept 12 (Reuters) - China has launched a nationwide probe into all baby milk powders after a contaminant linked to the deaths and illness of thousands of pets in the United States last year was found in one brand of formula.

Chinese authorities this week were investigating whether tainted formula lead to the death of one infant and caused kidney stones in dozens of others, reviving memories of a fake formula scandal four years ago in which at least 13 babies died.

One baby died in northwestern Gansu province from kidney stones, a rare complaint in infants, and more than 50 others had developed kidney stones there and in other provinces this year.

Investigations showed that most of the babies had drunk Sanlu-brand formula, state media said.

The Sanlu Group, a Hebei province-based dairy producer partly owned by New Zealand dairy export giant Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd., issued an immediate recall of milk formula made before Aug. 6, saying about 700 tonnes of melamine-contaminated powder were in circulation, Xinhua said on Friday. Calls to the company went unanswered.

Melamine, which is used as an ingredient in plastics, fertilizers and cleaning products, was "highly suspected" to have contaminated batches of Sanlu-brand milk formula, China's Ministry of Health said late on Thursday.

Melamine has been used by Chinese suppliers of animal feed components to artificially bolster its apparent protein content.

Veterinarians linked it to the formation of kidney stones and kidney failure in thousands of deaths and illnesses in pets in the United States last year.

China's quality watchdog, the Administration of Quality, Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), had launched a probe into all baby milk producers, Xinhua said.

"The results (of the investigation) will be announced to the public in a timely manner," AQSIQ said in a statement on its website.

SEVERELY PUNISHED

China's Health Ministry pledged to punish those responsible.

"(Authorities) in collaboration with local governments will determine the cause and the responsibility and severely punish those responsible," the ministry said.

The World Health Organisation said it was in close consultation with Chinese health authorities.

"We are monitoring the situation in China and for potential wider implications for other countries," WHO China representative Hans Troedsson told Reuters in an emailed statement.

It was unclear whether any of the problem formula had been exported.

The United States' Food and Drug Administration warned consumers on Thursday not to buy or use baby formula from China, which is banned in the United States.

The health scare broke after Xinhua quoted doctors at a hospital in China's northwestern Gansu province as saying that "fake milk powder" from one brand could have been responsible for kidney stones developing in 14 patients, all under 11 months.

Dozens of other cases of babies developing kidney stones had emerged at other hospitals in Gansu and in at least six other provinces.

Kidney stones are small, solid masses that form when salts or minerals normally found in urine crystallise inside the kidney.

If they become large enough, they can move out of the kidney, cause infection and lead to permanent kidney damage.

In 2004, at least 13 babies in eastern Anhui province died after drinking fake milk powder that investigators later found had no nutritional value, a scandal that rocked the country and triggered widespread investigations into food and health safety.

China is the world's second-biggest market for baby milk powder. (Reporting by Ian Ransom, Lucy Hornby and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Nick Macfie and Alex Richardson)


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Two babies suffering from kidney stones are held by relatives at a hospital in Lanzhou, Gansu province, September 11, 2008. A health scare in China involving babies developing kidney stones after ...


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Last updated:Fri Sep 12 04:29:04 2008