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Early Milk Warning Unheeded

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The Associated Press

Published: September 24, 2008

BEIJING - The note posted in July on the Web site of China's food safety inspection agency came from a doctor: There had been a sudden rise in infants turning up at his hospital with kidney stones after drinking the same brand of formula.

The warning, which urged an investigation, went unheeded. In the two weeks since China began piecemeal reporting about contamination of the milk supply, a picture has emerged of official indifference, greed and government dysfunction.

Among the startling details: The practice of adulterating milk was widely known in the industry, and one dairy knew since late last year that its formula was sickening children.

The revelations have dismayed a broad segment of the public - parents - who feel the government has breached their trust. Tens of thousands of children have sought medical care, nearly 13,000 have been hospitalized and four infants have died.

"I'm just disappointed because the government should have done more to protect its citizens," said Liao Yanfang, a migrant worker whose 1-year-old son was found to have kidney stones Tuesday at Beijing Children's Hospital. Since birth, her only child had been drinking infant formula made by the company at the center of the scandal, Sanlu Group Co., she said.

"I fed my baby powdered milk because ads said it was more nutritious than breast milk. We trusted that the government would provide adequate tests to ensure food quality," she said.

In the past two weeks, Beijing has recalled a broad array of milk products - all tainted by the industrial chemical melamine - and arrested Sanlu's chairwoman and several suppliers. It has dismissed officials and offered free medical care to the afflicted.

"Nothing like this will ever happen again," Premier Wen Jiabao pledged.

But questions remain about why food and health inspectors ignored growing signs of trouble in the milk supply and when the communist leadership knew about it. Galling to many Chinese is the suspicion that high-level pressures for a successful Beijing Olympics added momentum for a cover-up.

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