Trace Melamine Found In U.S. Baby Formula

Same Chemical Fatally Added To Chinese Formula; FDA Says Amount Detected Here Is "Perfectly Fine"

(AP)  Three tests of Nestle's Good Start Supreme Infant Formula with Iron detected an average of 0.247 parts per million of cyanuric acid, a melamine byproduct.

The FDA said last month that the toxicity of cyanuric acid is under study, but that meanwhile it is "prudent" to assume that its potency is equal to that of melamine.

And while the FDA said tests of 18 samples of formula made by Abbott Laboratories, including its Similac brand, did not detect melamine, spokesman Colin McBean said some company tests did find the chemical. He did not identify the specific product or the number of positive tests.

McBean did say the detections were at levels far below the health limits set by all countries in the world, including Taiwan, where the limit is 0.05 parts per million.

"We're talking about trace amounts right here, and you know there's a lot of scientific bodies out there that say low levels of melamine are always present in certain types of foods," said McBean.

Mead Johnson spokeswoman Gail Wood said her company's in-house tests had not detected any melamine, and that the company had not been informed of the FDA test results, even during a confidential agency conference call Monday with infant formula makers about melamine contamination.

The FDA tests also detected melamine in two samples of nutritional supplements for very sick children who have trouble digesting regular food. Nestle's Peptamen Junior medical food showed 0.201 and 0.206 parts per million of melamine while Nestle's Nutren Junior-Fiber showed 0.16 and 0.184 parts per million.

The agency said that while there are no established exposure levels for infant formula, pediatric medical food - often used in feeding tubes for very sick, young children - can have 2.5 parts per million of melamine, just like food products other than infant formula.

The head of manufacturing for Nestle Nutrition in North America, Walter Huber, said in an interview that the company took samples alongside FDA officials who visited a manufacturing plant, and that those samples showed similar results to what FDA found for the two pediatric medical foods. Huber added that Nestle didn't fund cyanuric acid in any of the samples.

The FDA shared its results with Nestle a few weeks ago, Huber said. He said he wasn't sure whether Nestle had tested other of its products beyond what it did related to the FDA.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., who heads a panel that oversees the FDA budget, said the agency was taking a "marketplace first, science last" approach.

"The FDA should be insisting on a zero-tolerance policy for melamine in domestic infant formula until it is able to determine conclusively based on sound independent science that the trace levels would not pose a health risk to infants," DeLauro said.

Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., a frequent critic of the FDA, said: "If no safe level of melamine has been established for consumption by children, then the FDA should immediately recall any formula that has tested positive for even trace amounts of the contaminant."

Several medical experts said trace concentrations would be diluted even in an infant, and are highly unlikely to be harmful.

"It's just a tiny amount, it's very unlikely to cause stones," said Stanford University Medical School pediatrics professor Dr. Paul Grimm.

Dr. Jerome Paulson, an associate professor of pediatrics at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., said he didn't think the FDA's decision was unreasonable. He added, however, that the agency should research the impacts of long-term, low-dose exposure, "and not just assume it's safe, and then 15 years from now find out that it's not."

[fush2]

omg!!!! thats just something i didnt expect.. maybe we should just stick to breast feeding our babies....people way back then didnt have formula...im sure babies would be fine without it

[pacificvvz]

Why should this story shock anyone !

The FDA has been on the payroll of the Pharmaceutical company''s for years....Check out the AUTISM - MERCURY POISONING PROBLEM, DUE TO BABY VACCINES being laced with THIMEROSAL ( A mercury additive that is 50 % Mercury)

I just read a great book on this subject....If you want to know whats really going on, check out the book titled " MERCURY: THE WINGED MESSENGER" It will open your eyes about the political corruption in this country.

[toolmangler-2009]

Let your neighbor place a trace amount of
fecal matter in you food every other day.
Don''t worry it won''t kill you.

Posted by rushlimpdrug at 05:59 PM : Nov 26, 2008





The FDA allows a 5% foriegn matter percentile (GRAS) in food stuffs. This includes Fecal matter (Rodent, Bird, etc)

[mamastep]

this is unacceptable and despicable! i long ago lost faith in the FDA, this just reaffirms my decision to do so.

[rushlimpdrug]

So are you saying Chinese spies are poisoning the U.S. baby formula supply???
Posted by txgrouch2007 at 01:14 PM

Are you really that stupid?

The chemical is found in trace amounts in
baby formula.

Try this experiment:

Let your neighbor place a trace amount of
fecal matter in you food every other day.

Don''t worry it won''t kill you.

[yongamerica]

Melamine was never in any products until the Chinese started processing proteins for America. To find it in baby formula in the US should OUTRAGE the FDA and the American public should gather pitch forks and torches and storm the Chinese embassy and offices in mass protest.

[yongamerica]

Here is a case of the Government siding with manufacturers. Everyone knows the dangers of melamine.

To say "The Food and Drug Administration said last month it was unable to identify any melamine exposure level as safe for infants" and then say ignore this warning is corrupt logic and is inexcusable. Bush Buddies Bonking the Babies.

[petro49l]

If the Chinese Government can''t abort children as fetuses, they put venom in their milk. Melamine is a substance used for killing. The ultimate form of reducing population is tricking people into drinking toxic chemicals. It is the old military adage of poisoning the water.

[Meg003]

I tend not to do that in longer posts because of the letter limit. I do like the fact the critique was on message to the post ,and could be considered constructive.

Posted by clovisbuford

I didn''t know about the letter limit.

Probably you are younger than I am, too. Young folks don''t seems to have issues with reading computer screens. Some of us middle-aged folks do.

[clovisbuford]

clovisbuford
With a lengthy post, you might consider using the spacebar to create spacing between points. It''''s hard to follow a long post like that without some breaks.
Posted by Meg001 at 12:55 PM : Nov 26, 2008
I tend not to do that in longer posts because of the letter limit. I do like the fact the critique was on message to the post ,and could be considered constructive.

[txgrouch2007]

"THIS SMELLS REAL BAD OF CHINESE TRECHERY"
Posted by MrNrgmizer at 11:56 AM : Nov 26, 2008

So are you saying Chinese spies are poisoning the U.S. baby formula supply???

[txgrouch2007]

If your theory was true, wouldn''''t all samples tested show it???
Posted by jtdev1 at 12:07 PM : Nov 26, 2008

This suggests two possibilities:

1) The quantity of melamine is not uniform, so some samples HAVE NO MELAMINE, and none is detected.

2) The amount of melamine is uniform, but it is so small that random sample-to-sample variations cause the melamine level to fall below what can be detected in some samples. Which suggests that ALL samples have only slightly more than that.

Without having the raw data and the detector characteristcs, it''s hard to pick out which answer is accurate.

[caliengineer]

The FDA, controlled by the NWO, was outed by the AP?

No! They would like us to believe this. However, the site walmartwatch reported immediately that Wal Mart illegally imported milk from China.

Trader Joe''s stopped selling food from China. Shop there. Can the amazing amount of poison in food from there really be accidental?

Whether intentionally introduced to better the bottom line or acceptable and necessary to the packaging of products is immaterial to the ultimate question of should the consumer purchase these products. The answer is a resounding NO, no matter the excuse. Make it known to the consumer what is included in the ingredients and let the consumer make his own choices. Those who excuse the industry''s excesses need to have their children consume more of those products. It will improve the gene pool.

[Meg003]

clovisbuford

With a lengthy post, you might consider using the spacebar to create spacing between points. It''s hard to follow a long post like that without some breaks.

[clovisbuford]

with your deranged ravings painted all over it with the lines so close together that the letters from one line touch or overlap the letters of the adjacent line?Posted by txgrouch2007 at 11:09 AM : Nov 26, 2008 I gotta love a grammar nazi online . I usually draw the line when people post in all caps like they are important.As for my contention that the FDA has been overzealous in its acting as firewall between big pharma and the consumer you never answered that one. Wow , you must make a killing in the psychiatric market with your skills.Send me an e-mail , or a letter and I can tell by your grammar whether you should seek psychiatric help or not ,one would think the appropriate response would be remedial writing .For me it is the issues that matter."Pharmaceutical firms are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, but that alone does not pre-empt state lawsuits %u2014 and for decades, courts have ruled that lawsuits can still go forward against drug companies for failing to adequately label and warn consumers and doctors about either the dangers of a drug or the dangers in administering it.
Wyeth is arguing that lawsuits like this one are barred, because the FDA approved its label. And for the first time, the federal agency is taking the side of the company.
The case poses two questions." http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95380152

[actornaught]

Just more evidence to reinforce that the neocon contract-on-america experiment needs to be shutdown completely. w''s deregulations, and hobbling of oversight of everything from toys to drugs will hopefully be unravelled in favor of the US government doing the public''s business in a meaningful way.

Everybody that voted for w, especially twice, needs to feel total shame.

[jtdev1]

This issue of "detecting trace amounts" is the result of the latest technology being able to detect MINISCULE amounts of a substance, even just a few molecules.

Posted by txgrouch2007



Could be, but it still doesn''t explain why it is detected in SOME of the samples and NOT others...

If your theory was true, wouldn''t all samples tested show it???

[usclimey]

NOBODY is intentionally pouring macroscopic quantities of melamine in U.S. baby formula.

This whole news item is a joke.

Posted by txgrouch2007

Thanks grouch - my point exactly, though more clearly stated. Good job.

[Meg003]

differnet

The sad truth is, Obama won''t be able to stop stories of food and drug problems. Many components of food and drugs, including vitamins, manufactured here are imported. Unless he imposes trade barriers to stop imports of food and drug substances, we will have untested foods and drugs.

Even if he attempts to improve U.S. manufacturing, he is going to face an impossible task getting perfect food on our tables or perfect drugs in our medicine cabinets. There will always be problems that slip through, because we cannot afford to test every single item.