Chinese Official Resigns Over Tainted Milk

Food Safety Head Quits In Scandal Of Contaminated Baby Formula That Sickened Thousands, Killed 4

(CBS/AP)  The head of the Chinese agency that monitors food and product safety has resigned, state media announced Monday, pushed out by a scandal over tainted baby formula that killed four babies and sickened thousands more.

China is a nation of terrified parents as the numbers of poisoned babies exploded over the weekend. CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen reports officials now say some 40,000 children have been treated for bad milk and almost 13,000 more have been hospitalized.

The culprit is melamine, an industrial chemical used in manufacturing plastic. If milk has been watered down to boost profits, the melamine makes it test as if it has normal protein levels. It also attacks the kidneys, and in large enough doses is fatal. Melamine is the same chemical in dog food imported from China last year that killed dogs in the United States.

Now there are claims that some top Chinese officials knew about the milk problem months ago and did nothing.

"It seems that some people knew about this problem for some time, but did not share the information," said Dr. Shigeru Omi, with the World Health Organization

In a kind of desperate damage control China's premier went to a hospital for a hands-on look at what parents are going through, and offered tough words, calling the owners of the companies responsible "heartless." The Chinese government also issued new recall orders this week, Petersen reports.

New recalls now include instant coffee pre-mixed with powered milk, candy made with milk, and even Starbucks in China took milk off its menu.

And meanwhile, fear is spreading. Parents are unsure how long this has been going on, how much worse it will get, and if their baby will be the next one to get sick - or even die.

Beijing authorities also said that China's biggest producer of powdered milk had known for months that its baby formula was tainted. There were complaints about infant formula sold by the Sanlu Group Co. as early as December 2007, China Central Television reported, citing an investigation by the State Council, China's Cabinet.

"During these eight months, the company did not inform the government and did not take proper measures, therefore making the situation worse," CCTV said.

Melamine has since been found in infant formula and other milk products from 22 of China's dairy companies.

Baby formula and other milk products have been pulled from stores around the country and Chinese dairy products, including baby formula, milk candy, and ice cream, have been recalled or banned in Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and Hong Kong.

The resignation of Li Changjiang, who headed the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine since 2001, comes a year after he and the government promised to overhaul the system.

New regulations and procedures were introduced in an attempt to restore consumer confidence and preserve export markets after a string of recalls and warnings abroad over tainted toothpaste, faulty tires and other goods.

Yet the latest crisis indicates problems were still slipping through the cracks.

On Monday, the World Health Organization urged stricter monitoring of the industry.

Sanlu and several other leading companies found to have produced tainted milk had been given inspection-free status by China's product quality watchdog.

That privilege has since been rescinded, but WHO China representative Hans Troedsson stressed it was only a first step and that quality issues can crop up at any point in the supply chain, from the farm to the store.

"It's clearly something that is not acceptable and needs to be rectified and corrected," he said.

The number of sick children reported by the government jumped Sunday from 6,200 to nearly 53,000.

More than 80 percent of the 12,892 children hospitalized in recent weeks were 2 years old or younger, the Health Ministry said. It said 104 were in serious condition.

(A Chinese child looks at a basin of fresh cow milk bought from a local cow farmer in Zhengting, Hebei province, Sept. 20, 2008.)

Another 39,965 children received outpatient treatment and were considered "basically recovered," the ministry said.

Four babies' deaths have been blamed on tainted milk powder.

The ministry did not explain the sudden increase in the number of cases but it suggested health officials were combing through hospital records from May through August to trace the origins of the contamination. The deaths of the infants linked to tainted baby formula occurred in those months, the Health Ministry said.

WHO was having discussions with Chinese officials on how to strengthen its food quality system, Troedsson said. Local authorities need increased training to create a "more robust reporting system," he said.

"It is important to know if information was withheld, where and why it was withheld," he said. "Was it ignorance by provincial authorities or was it that they neglected to report it? Because if it was ignorance there is a need to have much better training and education ... if it is neglect then it is of course more serious."

Investigators say some raw milk suppliers, in hopes of making more profit, may have watered down their milk to increase volume and then added melamine, which is high in nitrogen and artificially appears to boost protein content.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Li stepped down with the approval of China's Cabinet. Wang Yong replaced Li as the director of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

[tootall10142]

KARMA, I THOUGHT THESE PEOPLE WERE BUDDIST.EVEN IN CHINA THE ALMIGHTY MAMMON CURRENCY IS REVERED.THE CHILDREN OF THE OFFENDERS ARE NOT SICK IM SURE THEY WARNED THIER FAMILY DONT DRINK THE MILK OR USE THE FORMULA.AS A DEMENTED CHRISTIAN AND MAD MAN EVEN I KNOW IT NOT A GOOD IDEA TO MESS WITH GODS BABIES.WHOA! BE UNTO YE WHO HARM THE CHILDREN! AWAY FROM ME I KNOW YOU NOT!

[oneworldusa]

Don''t buy anything from China. Anything. Either do without, find something Made in America, or buy from Canada, Bangladesh, Guam, etc. if you must; just other places that don''t have reputations for poisoning our children.

[shameonbush]

We must be sure that this will NEVER happen in the United States, NEVER. The Chinese government forces women to have abortions, even at 9 months pregnant, Why should their society uphold human life and keep them safe, whenever they, the Chinese communist government thinks nothing of stealing 9 month old full term babies from their mother''s womb, and killing them? Pray for China, they are so lost. I think we should re-evaluate the safety of our children''s food in our own country. Do you not think that we have greedy CEO''s in this country that would be more than happy to pay off the so-called inspectors? I want to know that our babies are safe here.

[rwsmith29456]

Resign my foot. This is criminal. They should catch the people responsible, punish them severely and make examples of them. Heads on pikes sound good.

[pollroller1]

Yep, China has their tainted milk and we have our tainted water.

[runningralph]

If he was on the board of a US company he would have a golden parachute.

[formrusmcsgt]

You have to hand it to the Orientals - they still have honor.

When a public official fails at his charge, he resigns.

We should be so honorable here in the US.

[stn_sage]

This guy will be lucky if all that happens to him is that he resigns! With so many sick, dying, and dead babies, it''s likely that his resignation is going to be insufficient to satisfy the anger of the parents!

It seems like there should be lower ranking officials who knew this was going on! Like plant managers, district distribution managers, milk suppliers, etcetera.

In other words, there are a bunch of other people who have a hand in this tragedy! I wonder whether or not, the Chinese government will identify them and seek to obtain justice from them!?

[jesusface]

We Chinese are more the one billion and more strong. Who cares about those babies who can''t digest melamin!
Melamin makes you strong if you don''t die...

[jesusface]

For Sale: Melamine counters or milk!

[jesusface]

Sick! The Chinese people are *** sick!

[easeup-2009]

Posted by lambor69 at 02:51 PM : Sep 22, 2008

Wow it only took 1 post for some marblehead to reference Bush.....