<![CDATA[Jezebel: melamine]]> http://tags.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/jezebel.com.png <![CDATA[Jezebel: melamine]]> http://jezebel.com/tag/melamine http://jezebel.com/tag/melamine <![CDATA[Our Problems With Milk Really Suck]]> The toxic milk scandal out of China brings up so many issues: breastmilk versus formula; a possible cover-up involving gorillas with kidney stones; the safety of products mass-produced in China (especially after last year's toy recall). But also: Just what, we, as humans, put in our bodies. When Sadie wrote about PETA urging Ben & Jerry's to use breast milk for their ice cream, a few commenters actually wrote, "Ewww." But when we posted about a dog who is nursing some baby tigers or a dog who adopted some baby bunnies, the response was more like, "Awww."

How come when polled about cross-nursing, some women found it "disgusting" or weird? Just so we're clear: Humans drinking human milk is "weird," but humans drinking animal milk is not; and tigers drinking dog milk is adorable. How did we come up with these conclusions?

Meanwhile, the latest reports out of China are that melamine use is "rampant" there. The European Union will now test all imported goods from China containing more than 15% milk powder, according to the Wall Street Journal. All products originating from China for infants and young children containing any percentage of milk will be banned.

It's weird that this natural thing, the first substance most of us receive as nourishment after we are born, has been coopted by industry and tainted. See what happens when you screw with Mother Nature?

EU Restricts Chinese Milk Imports [WSJ]
Now The Apes Fall Victim To China Toxic Milk Scandal As Officials Admit Cover-Up During Olympics [Daily Mail]
Melamine Use "Rampant" In China Feed Business [Reuters]
Now Two Gorillas Suspected Of Milk-Powder Poisoning [Reuters]
Earlier: I Scream You Scream
Breastfeeding A Friend's Baby: Bonding? Or A Blurring Of Boundaries?

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<![CDATA[ The chief inspection official of China's...]]> The chief inspection official of China's quality watchdog says that the milk crisis which sickened 53,000 Chinese children has, hopefully, come to a close. Even so, some women are responding to the milk powder scandal by offering their services as wet nurses to families wary of using formula. Breast-feeding might also see a resurgence in China, where many women stopped breastfeeding because they felt formula was better for their babies. [Reuters & WSJ]

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<![CDATA[ Here's your daily Chinese baby formula update:...]]> Here's your daily Chinese baby formula update: The official number of children sickened by the contaminated milk jumped from 6,000 to 53,000 on Sunday, with 12,892 children hospitalized as a result. Meanwhile, Hong Kong's two main supermarket chains pulled Nestle milk powder from their shelves after a newspaper reported that the product contained melamine. (Last Wednesday, Nestle said that its products were safe for consumption.) [AP & MSNBC]

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<![CDATA[Tainted Love]]> More on the melamine-tainted baby formula responsible for sickening thousands of babies China: the situation is much worse than previously thought. This morning, the Chinese government announced that melamine has been found in 69 batches of baby formula from 22 different producers. The government also increased the number of sickened Chinese children to 6,244, including 158 who had acute kidney failure, and the Ministry of Health has reported a third infant death. So far, four dealers have been arrested for adding melamine to their milk to defraud nutrition tests. [WSJ]

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<![CDATA[China's Tainted Baby Formula Scare Revives Old Fears About Chinese Products]]> Reports are surfacing today that China is being rocked by a tainted baby formula scare that has resulted in the death of one child in the northwestern province of Gansu and the development of kidney stones in 50 other babies across the country. The reports have, once again, sparked local and international doubts in the safety of Chinese products after investigations items ranging from plastic toys to dog food. The tainted formula — which is sold under the name of Sanlu Bei Bei Infant Powder — and the urge to reassure domestic and overseas consumers that Chinese products are safe has sparked a serious investigation by the Chinese government into all baby formula made in the country, the second-largest market for baby formula. But what exactly makes this baby formula so harmful? The answer might be familiar to you!

An investigation into Sanlu Group Co, the company responsible for the milk powder and the largest milk powder producer in China, found that the milk powder had been "tainted" with Melamine, a nitrogen-rich chemical. The chemical, normally found in plastics and fertilizers, is not meant to be consumed but is sometimes mixed in with food by companies that want their products to appear more protein-rich since food tests for protein involve nitrogen tests. Melamine-contaminated ingredients that were sourced in China for use in pet food were the cause of kidney failures and kidney stones (the same symptom that has occurred in the children who drank the Sanlu Bei Bei Infant Powder) of thousands of pets in the United States last year.

Sanlu Group is partly owned by the New Zealand dairy export company, Fonterra Co-operative Group, Ltd. The company says that it "understand[s] the the product involved is only sold in China." Although the United States has a ban on infant formula from China, U.S. officials fear that the formula could have been brought in illegally and sold in ethnic food markets, and the officials warn against anyone consuming infant formula that is manufactured in China. Chinese officials also say that the problem formula was mostly sold in poor and remote regions of China at a lower cost.

China, for one, doesn't want to to waste any time getting to the bottom of the contaminated formula and the government promises "serious punishment" for the people responsible. China has also reported the case to the World Health Organization in hopes that some transparency of the issue will help international consumers become more comfortable with the quality control in China.

China Recalls Tainted Infant Formula [CBS News]
China Blame Milk Suppliers In Baby Health Scare [Reuters]

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