Babies Are Being Poisoned in China

The Chinese Poison Train continues to roll down its toxic tracks. It is the smallest citizens that are paying the price in the latest scandal.

more than 6,000 babies had fallen ill and three died after drinking milk powder contaminated with a toxic chemical, as it vowed massive efforts to contain a widening food scandal.

In the latest debacle to tarnish the "Made in China" label, authorities admitted two of 22 companies found to have melamine in their milk powder were exporting abroad, and that tainted yogurt had been found in Hong Kong.

Melamine, a chemical normally used to make plastics and glues, appeared to have been added to make the products seem richer in protein, and China's two biggest dairy companies were among those found to have contaminated products.

"Everyone in our family is very worried," said Qi Yunzhong, a teacher at a primary school in northwest China's Gansu province whose son got kidney stones after drinking tainted milk powder.

"Every day there is a long line out in front of the hospital. The families are worried and everyone has stopped using milk powder," he told AFP by phone.

In Beijing, Health Minister Chen Zhu said 6,244 infants across the country had fallen ill and three died after consuming the milk powder over a period of many months.

The number of sick was up fivefold from official numbers given Tuesday. _SinoDaily

Apparently melamine was added to the products intentionally, to deceive nutritional testers into thinking the dairy products were higher in nutrition than they were. It is sometimes easy to forget that China is still a developing nation, without many of the safeguards that more developed nations have.

A scandal that strikes at the most innocent of Chinese is most dangerous in terms of inciting disaffection among the part of the population with children, or considering having children. China is particularly susceptible to rolling waves of dissent, due to the firm pressure on all unfavourable news kept on the media by the CCP propaganda ministry.