China: Melamine victim's parents receive $29,000 The parents of an infant who died after drinking tainted milk have been paid 200,000 yuan ($29,000) in compensation by the Chinese dairy company at the heart of the scandal, their lawyer confirmed Friday. Yi Yongsheng and his wife Jiao Hongfang, farmers from poverty-stricken Gansu province, accepted the money Wednesday from Sanlu Group Co. as compensation for the death last year of their 6-month-old son, said Dong Junming, one of their two Shanghai-based attorneys. By accepting the money, the family gave up its right to sue the company, he said. (AP, 01/16/2009)
China to license melamine production CHINA’S MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY and Information Technology (MIIT) has drafted a licensing regulation for melamine production and is recruiting feedback from the public until 16 January. The draft requires melamine producers to meet nine conditions in order to qualify for the license or else be banned from further production. The conditions, including stipulations that production is no less than 15,000 t/y and that per ton energy consumption is no more than 1.2 t standard coal, effectively exclude family workshops and small-sized companies. (The Chemical Engineer, 1/14/2009)
Virginia Child's Kidney Problems May Be Due to Melamine-Tainted Candy A Virginia mom is convinced her six-year-old daughter received some melamine-tainted candy on Halloween, and those goodies caused the little girl's recent kidney problems. Maria also recalled seeing pieces of candy in her daughter's Halloween bag that looked like the melamine-tainted White Rabbit Creamy Candy, which were imported from China and distributed in the United States last September. "I think what she ate were those little bunny candies that look like Tootsie Rolls," Marie says. (Consumer Affairs, 01/12/2009)
Fair Trade Suffers When China Censors The Internet. It's Not Just A Human Rights Issue. Censorship gives an unfair market advantage to Chinese internet providers like Baidu, which doesn't need to present a superior product to lead the market - it needs simply to offer operational and editorial compliance with what the government wants, or what Baidu thinks it wants. Baidu, by the way, is the company that sold its censorship services for the equivalent of a $250,000 payment from Sanlu, a large milk producing company, to block search results related to the melamine contamination of milk products that sickened tens of thousands of Chinese children. (The Huffington Post, 01/08/2009)
Another child dies from melamine-contaminated milk A one-year-old boy with kidney disease because of the powdered milk that he drank from birth died yesterday in Qingzhou (Shandong). His death brings to 7 the official number of victims in the melamine milk contamination scandal, but is triggering doubts about the actual number. Hou Rongbo says that his son, Hu Haiqi, was diagnosed with kidney stones last September. He died from respiratory complications. Since he had also been diagnosed with leukemia, the father wants the hospital to conduct an autopsy to verify the cause of death. But the public health officials are refusing to give permission. The government and authorities all over China have so far tried to minimize the deaths from tainted milk, and the courts are not accepting the lawsuits brought by parents of sick children against the companies implicated in the scandal. (Asia News, 01/08/2009)
Melamine byproduct found in more U.S. infant formula The Food and Drug Administration says the industrial chemical melamine and a byproduct cyanuric acid have now been detected in four of 89 containers of infant formula made in the United States, doubling previously reported positive results. The FDA has now updated its response to the FOIA request by posting results of 89 tests on its Web site. For the complete list, click here.(Newsday, 01/07/2009)
China Melamine Scandal Affects American Adoptions The ongoing and far-reaching China melamine scandal, in which tainted milk powder killed at least six children and sickened nearly 300,000, has spread to another group: Adopted Chinese children now living in the U.S. Children exposed to China-produced formula in 2007 and 2008 are of particular concern. (NewsInferno, 01/05/2009)
Ex-Sanlu boss clawed her way to the top Reuter's Photo: Four former executives of the Sanlu Group (L-R), Tian Wenhua, Wang Yuliang, Hang Zhiqi and Wu Jusheng stand on trial at the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province Dec 31, 2008. (AsiaOne, 01/05/2008) US parents want answers after China milk scare Beth Flanders was on her way to China to adopt her 17-month-old daughter in September when she received a warning from her adoption agency: An industrial chemical that can cause kidney stones had been found in Chinese baby formula, and parents should not feed it to their new children. Flanders' daughter had no symptoms. But in November, an ultrasound revealed two kidney stones, which are unusual in children. Now the Los Angeles-area nurse wonders if melamine is to blame. (AP, 01/02/2009)
Chinese firms send milk scandal SMS apology A group of Chinese dairy firms has sent a new year text message to millions of mobile phone subscribers apologising for the melamine contamination scandal. (ABCNews, 01/02/2009)
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