Chinese dairy knew milk fault weeks before recall

[LeeFisher3]

A Chinese dairy that sold milk powder linked to kidney stones in infants knew it contained a banned chemical weeks before ordering a recall, the health minister said Saturday.

 

One child has died and an official said the number of children sickened had risen to 432.

 

Investigators have detained 19 people and are questioning 78 to find out how melamine was added to milk supplied to Sanlu Group Co., China's biggest milk powder producer, officials said at a news conference. They said some tainted powder was exported to Taiwan but none was sent to other foreign markets.

Chinese dairy knew milk fault weeks before recall

[Stepbrow]

I heard that this was the same stuff that killed so many dogs and cats here in the U.S. That's bad enough, but when they do it to infants and children, it makes your blood boil.

[LeeFisher3]

I heard that this was the same stuff that killed so many dogs and cats here in the U.S. That's bad enough, but when they do it to infants and children, it makes your blood boil.

I'd imagine whoever is responsible for this situation will wish someone boiled their blood before it's over.

[rogerluli]

It's melamine...Saw pics of the factory tonight...looked super clean and high-tech but something went terribly wrong...

[LeeFisher3]

China makes first arrests in tainted milk probe

 

Chinese police arrested two brothers suspected of adding a dangerous chemical to milk they sold to a company that produced infant formula that killed two babies and sickened more than 1,200 others, officials and state media reported Monday.

 

The two brothers, surnamed Geng, run a milk collection center in Hebei province and are accused of adding melamine, a chemical used in plastics, to the milk to make it appear higher in protein, the official Xinhua News Agency said. They sold about three tons of contaminated milk a day, the report said, citing Hebei police spokesman Shi Guizhong.

[rogerluli]

China makes first arrests in tainted milk probe

 

Chinese police arrested two brothers suspected of adding a dangerous chemical to milk they sold to a company that produced infant formula that killed two babies and sickened more than 1,200 others, officials and state media reported Monday.

 

The two brothers, surnamed Geng, run a milk collection center in Hebei province and are accused of adding melamine, a chemical used in plastics, to the milk to make it appear higher in protein, the official Xinhua News Agency said. They sold about three tons of contaminated milk a day, the report said, citing Hebei police spokesman Shi Guizhong.

 

And we have two more excellent candidates who just won the single bullet in the back of the head award...

[IllinoisDave]

China makes first arrests in tainted milk probe

 

Chinese police arrested two brothers suspected of adding a dangerous chemical to milk they sold to a company that produced infant formula that killed two babies and sickened more than 1,200 others, officials and state media reported Monday.

 

The two brothers, surnamed Geng, run a milk collection center in Hebei province and are accused of adding melamine, a chemical used in plastics, to the milk to make it appear higher in protein, the official Xinhua News Agency said. They sold about three tons of contaminated milk a day, the report said, citing Hebei police spokesman Shi Guizhong.

Hmmmm...Just two guys/three tons a day? Sounds kinda scapegoaty to me.

[Jeikun]

China makes first arrests in tainted milk probe

 

Chinese police arrested two brothers suspected of adding a dangerous chemical to milk they sold to a company that produced infant formula that killed two babies and sickened more than 1,200 others, officials and state media reported Monday.

 

The two brothers, surnamed Geng, run a milk collection center in Hebei province and are accused of adding melamine, a chemical used in plastics, to the milk to make it appear higher in protein, the official Xinhua News Agency said. They sold about three tons of contaminated milk a day, the report said, citing Hebei police spokesman Shi Guizhong.

Hmmmm...Just two guys/three tons a day? Sounds kinda scapegoaty to me.

 

Scapegoats in China? Heavens no!!

[jemmyell]

China makes first arrests in tainted milk probe

 

Chinese police arrested two brothers suspected of adding a dangerous chemical to milk they sold to a company that produced infant formula that killed two babies and sickened more than 1,200 others, officials and state media reported Monday.

 

The two brothers, surnamed Geng, run a milk collection center in Hebei province and are accused of adding melamine, a chemical used in plastics, to the milk to make it appear higher in protein, the official Xinhua News Agency said. They sold about three tons of contaminated milk a day, the report said, citing Hebei police spokesman Shi Guizhong.

Hmmmm...Just two guys/three tons a day? Sounds kinda scapegoaty to me.

 

Scapegoats in China? Heavens no!!

 

I believe they are ACTUALLY ScapeSheep...

 

-James

[LeeFisher3]

When my wife read about this on the internet her first reaction was "kill them". I explained to her that was not a good punishment and they should let them live a long and painful life.

 

After some thought, all of 3 seconds, she agreed.

[IllinoisDave]

Two more arrested. Again...small farmers.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-09...ent_7031740.htm

Edited September 16, 2008 by IllinoisDave (see edit history)

[tonado]

They should be punished by drinking the bad milk.

[Jeikun]

These people should be punished. But if the action stops at the people who put the melamine in the milk being punished, than the government has failed to address the problem.

 

The lack of proper licensing, education, and health standards at these farms and facilities creates an environment ripe for such problems to develop.

 

Uneducated farmers who want to sell more milk perhaps added the chemical knowing and not caring that it was dangerous... some also probably did it not understanding the implications of what they were doing. Either way, it was too easily aquired, too easily added, and too easily passed undetected for far too long.

 

Just as when the same chemical caused many pets and pigs to die in the US and Canada, many here were quick to point out that part of the problem was that the importing country and companies were culpable in part by not testing their raw materials better - I put forward that the company that bottled this milk which was tainted from multiple sources is partially culpable. The government as well, for failing to have proper and enforcable standards in place.

 

If this lesson is learned and action is taken to ensure this does not happen again, and the quality of products for a countries most precious resource (children) becomes more sound, and able to be trusted again... then it was dealt with properly. If all that happens is it is presented as these evil farmers who are all to blame, the government puts bullets in their heads, and gives the public time to boo and hiss at them, and then changes nothing and business as usual... then nothing will have changed. It will happen again.

[IllinoisDave]

These people should be punished. But if the action stops at the people who put the melamine in the milk being punished, than the government has failed to address the problem.

 

The lack of proper licensing, education, and health standards at these farms and facilities creates an environment ripe for such problems to develop.

 

Uneducated farmers who want to sell more milk perhaps added the chemical knowing and not caring that it was dangerous... some also probably did it not understanding the implications of what they were doing. Either way, it was too easily aquired, too easily added, and too easily passed undetected for far too long.

 

Just as when the same chemical caused many pets and pigs to die in the US and Canada, many here were quick to point out that part of the problem was that the importing country and companies were culpable in part by not testing their raw materials better - I put forward that the company that bottled this milk which was tainted from multiple sources is partially culpable. The government as well, for failing to have proper and enforcable standards in place.

 

If this lesson is learned and action is taken to ensure this does not happen again, and the quality of products for a countries most precious resource (children) becomes more sound, and able to be trusted again... then it was dealt with properly. If all that happens is it is presented as these evil farmers who are all to blame, the government puts bullets in their heads, and gives the public time to boo and hiss at them, and then changes nothing and business as usual... then nothing will have changed. It will happen again.

Exactly! Which is why I alluded to scapegoating. It'd be real easy for the gov't officials to round up a few poor farmers and have a quick trial (or not) and put either them in a cell or a bullet in their skull and pronounce the problem solved.

[tonado]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/09/1...mula/index.html

 

A third baby has died after drinking tainted formula and more than 6,000 children have been made ill, Chinese officials said Wednesday.