/ 13 September 2008

China says 432 babies ill in milk-powder scare

China says it believes 432 babies across the country have been made ill by contaminated milk powder that caused them to develop kidney stones.

China said on Saturday that it believed 432 babies across the country had been made ill by contaminated milk powder that caused them to develop kidney stones.

Sanlu Group, a dairy producer partly owned by New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra Cooperative Group, has been ordered to halt production after a preliminary investigation found its products were responsible, officials said.

Nineteen people have been detained on suspicion of breaking food safety laws, and 78 people have been questioned, said Yang Chongyong, vice-governor of the northern province of Hebei where Sanlu is based.

”This is a severe food safety accident,” Gao Qiang, a senior official at Ministry of Health, told a news conference called by the Cabinet’s information office in Beijing.

Sanlu admitted this week that its baby formula had been contaminated with melamine, a toxin linked to the deaths and illness of thousands of pets in the United States last year.

Kidney stones, a rare complaint in infants, are small, solid masses that form when salts or minerals normally found in urine crystallise inside the kidney.

Authorities said earlier this week that they were investigating whether the tainted milk powder had caused the death of one baby in the north-western province of Gansu. — Reuters