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Newspaper
www.drinkmilk.com
Sanlu Milk Scandal
20th May 2008
How it started?
Killer milk??
Sixteen infants in China’s Province are diagnosed with kidney stones. All of them had been fed milk powder. An estimated 300,000 babies in China are sick from the contaminated milk, and the kidney damage led to six deaths. The Sanlu Group, one of the largest dairy producers in China, was identified as the chief culprit. But as the scandal unfolds, more Chinese dairy firms can become implicated.
Subtopic 1
What lead to the scandal?
What is the cause of the disease?
One of the country's largest dairy products makers says its milk food had been contaminated with a chemical called melamine. The announcement came after the company conducted an internal investigation.
Melamine
Melamine is used in plastics, fertilisers and cleaning products.
Adding Melamine into food products, increase the apparent protein content but it is illegal to do so because ingestion of melamine may lead to reproductive damage, or bladder or kidney stones, and bladder cancer.
Consequences
Consequences
The issue raises concerns about food safety and political corruption in China and damaged the reputation of the country's food exports. The World Health Organization is calling the incident "deplorable" and at least 11 foreign countries held all imports of Chinese dairy products. A number of trials are being conducted by the Chinese government and are expecting the results to be in two executions, three sentences of life imprisonment, two 15-year prison sentences and the firing or forced resignation of seven local government officials. The former chairwoman of China's Sanlu dairy is being sentanced to life in prison.
The Sanlu Group are recalling about 700 tons of its baby milk food, as one of the infants diagnosed with kidney stones after being fed the food died in the province. The Beijing Review said Sanlu expects to have to pay compensation claims totaling to ¥700 million, and it became clear the company would be broken up and sold.
Olympics
Olympics
There is never a good time for that kind of news, of course, but the timing couldn't be worse. It is just days before the start of the Beijing Olympics, just when Chinese authorities were hypersensitive to anything that might mar the nation's moment in the spotlight. China knew about the contamination of milk products months ago but covered the scandal up to prevent it tarnishing the Beijing Olympics, according to journalists, rights groups and media critics.