Four Babies Now Dead from Melamine Poisoning

Four babies are now dead in China due to consuming melamine poisoned milk, and thousands more are hospitalized - and the response of the Chinese government is to fire a mayor? Gee, that must really make the Chinese citizens feel secure and confident in their government's ability to police the food supply and punish criminals. Mayor in China Fired in Milk Scandal By EDWARD WONG September 19, 2008 (The New York Times) BEIJING — China’s adulterated milk scandal continued to widen Thursday, as authorities arrested a dozen people, fired a senior government official and acknowledged that a wider range of milk products showed traces of a chemical used to disguise its poor quality. Officials said a fourth infant had died from tainted baby formula, while health regulators in neighboring Hong Kong announced a broader recall of mainland Chinese-made milk, yogurt and ice cream contaminated with the chemical melamine. Tainted milk is the latest in a long string of food and drug safety problems that have caused consumers in China and in the country’s major export markets to worry about the quality of some Chinese goods. Shoddy infant formula was at the center of another scandal in 2004 that prompted a crackdown on rogue suppliers. But the new safety problems are much more widespread, involving at least 22 dairy companies and contaminated milk products that have appeared nationwide. China Central Television, the main government network, reported Thursday night that melamine had been found in some liquid milk from three major brands. The authorities also announced that Ji Chuntang, the mayor of Shijiazhuang, a city whose officials have been accused of failing to deal with reports of tainted formula, had been dismissed. He was the most senior official to be punished so far. Sanlu Group, one of China’s largest dairy companies and the first company that was found to be selling contaminated formula, has its headquarters in Shijiazhuang, which is in the northern province of Hebei. Investigators have discovered traces of melamine, an industrial chemical, in batches of powdered baby formula made by the 22 dairy companies, all of which have said they were recalling their milk products. Producers trying to cut costs often dilute milk with water, which lowers the nutritional content. But the addition of melamine, which is high in nitrogen, helps the milk appear to meet nutrition standards by artificially raising its protein count. Mr. Ji was dismissed in the investigation of what appeared to be a chain of neglect and a cover-up that began with Sanlu. Sanlu received complaints months ago about suspected problems in the formula, but the company waited until Aug. 2 to tell the Shijiazhuang city government, Hebei’s deputy governor said Wednesday. City officials waited until Sept. 9 to tell provincial officials, who did not inform the central government until the next day. Sanlu finally recalled 700 tons of the formula on Sept. 11. Mr. Ji’s firing indicated that the political consequences of the scandal could increase as more information emerges on the role played by officials and as the death toll climbs. Four city officials were fired before Mr. Ji’s dismissal. The general manager of Sanlu, Tian Wenhua, has also been fired and was detained by the police. The police in Hebei Province have arrested 18 people, including six who sold melamine to milk producers, the official news agency Xinhua reported. The others were milk producers who added melamine to their products and then sold the milk to dairy companies. On Thursday, Hong Kong ordered the recall of the dairy products of Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group after tests found melamine in 8 of the company’s 30 products. The police are seeking a milk seller named Xue Jianzhong, who is accused of adding melamine to his milk. Mr. Xue was put on a wanted list late Wednesday, Xinhua reported. United States Food and Drug Administration officials said they had been reassured by manufacturers of infant formula for the American market that they did not import products or ingredients from China. An F.D.A. official said the agency was also inspecting bulk shipments from Asia to examine milk-derived ingredients, like milk protein concentrate and whey powder, in order to determine if they were contaminated with melamine. So far all the samples have shown no contamination. Andrew Martin contributed reporting from New York. Huang Yuanxi contributed research.

China Tightens Rules on Heparin

Well, darlings, of course, it is (giggle and smirk into your left hand while winking with your right eye). From The New York Times By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: March 21, 2008 Filed at 7:29 a.m. ET SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- In a reversal of its earlier stance, China's drug safety agency is ordering local authorities to tighten controls on production of heparin, a blood-thinner linked to 19 deaths in the United States and hundreds of allergic reactions. The State Food and Drug Administration issued the order in a notice, seen Friday on its Web site, that requires heparin producers to obtain the raw chemicals used to make the drug from registered suppliers. Raw heparin suppliers, meanwhile, are required to improve their management and tests on their products, it said. Earlier, the Chinese drug agency had insisted that ensuring the quality of exported chemicals like heparin was the responsibility of importers and importing countries. Heparin is derived from a mucous obtained from pig intestines and other animal tissues, often processed by small, unregistered workshops. Investigations following the reports of sometimes fatal adverse reactions in the United States, and of similar allergic reactions in Germany, prompted China's new crackdown on unlicensed production. Earlier this week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration identified the contaminant in heparin batches from a Chinese supplier to U.S. pharmaceuticals company Baxter International Inc. as oversulfated chondroitin sulfate. Baxter recalled nearly all its U.S.-sold heparin injections after some patients experienced extreme allergic reactions to the products. There have been similar recalls of Chinese-sourced heparin in Germany and Japan. Drug safety officials say they have not confirmed yet if the contaminant, which chemically mimics heparin, caused the dangerous allergic reactions. [Well - DUH!] But both the U.S. and Chinese drug agencies said they were investigating how the oversulfated chondroitin sulfate, which does not occur naturally, got into the heparin batches. [Well, perhaps the USFDA is investigating on its end, but do I believe the Chinese government is seriously investigating anything? Not for a second. They'll end up chopping some other unfortunate schmuck's head off as a scape goat and call it a wrap, and the same contaminated and adulterated crap will continue to be shipped to the United States and other countries while those in the power look the other way.] The heparin probe, coming just a year after the toxic chemical melamine was found in a pet food ingredient from China, has refocused attention on various problems with safety and quality of Chinese-made drugs, foods and other products. [Attention refocused until the bribes start...] China's drug agency has often failed to adequately regulate the country's medicine supplies, and an explosion of production capacity has resulted in numerous reports of adulterated, counterfeit and otherwise unsafe pharmaceuticals. Last year, China executed the drug agency's director for taking bribes to approve unqualified medicines. China so far has not reported any adverse allergic reactions to heparin products used in the country. [Oh please! Would you really expect China to report anything that happens over there truthfully? They're probably glad to get rid of some of their excess population!] But the Chinese drug safety agency [an oxymoron if I ever heard one] ordered heparin makers to closely monitor reactions to their products and immediately halt production and recall any products with safety problems. Deerfield, Ill.-based Baxter International was buying its heparin through a Wisconsin-based producer, Scientific Protein Laboratories, or SPL, which in turn owns a Chinese factory -- Changzhou SPL -- and buys additional raw heparin from other Chinese suppliers. SPL says that the contamination occurred earlier in the supply chain. *************************************************************************************** Yes of course the contamination occurred in China. That's where the raw "product" comes from. And guess what, folks. We're sitting ducks here in the USA. We have no idea when we're taking our prescription pills and our over-the-counter remedies what the heck is in them or where the ingredients came from. There's no label on the drugs saying MADE IN CHINA, which in the case of other products has heretofore been a joke because of their inferior quality - but now has become a matter of life and death. I have hypertension (high blood pressure). I take two different kinds of blood pressure medication in addition to a water pill and a low dose of aspirin every day. I also take a multi-vitamin and a calcium with Vitamin D supplement. Am I a racist because I do not want any Chinese-made "goo" in any of my medications and supplements?