Two men have been arrested in China accused of adding melamine to milk
powder which caused the death of two babies in northwest China.

(ASIA) HEBEI, CHINA (SEPTEMBER 14, 2008) CCTV -
Test centres across China examined samples of milk powder collected
from across the country, after tainted milk powder killed two babies in the
northwest of the country.
Authorities believe farmers or dealers supplying milk to the Sanlu
brand may have diluted it with water and then added melamine, a chemical used
in plastics, fertilisers and cleaning products, to make the milk's protein
level appear higher than it actually was.
Two men have already been arrested, according to state news broadcaster
CCTV.
The infant milk powder, Sanlu, which is partly owned by New Zealand
dairy giant Fonterra, was officially recalled last week.
China has recorded nearly 500 babies becoming ill from the tainted milk
powder.
Fonterra, who blew the whistle on the tainted milk last week, claims it
has been pushing for an official recall for weeks without response from local
Chinese authorities, according to New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark.

The company said it was told in August that its Chinese partner was
selling contaminated milk.
Chinese media first reported on Sept. 10 that babies had fallen ill
after drinking the formula, and Sanlu on Sept. 11 issued a recall of its
product made before Aug 6.
State media reported that the head of the State Administration of
Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, Li Changjiang has ordered
tests to be carried out across the country.
Heibei provincial inspection centre has been carrying out tests on milk
powder samples since September 12 and test centre employees said they were
carrying out hourly tests.
"Normally, with this equipment in one hour we test 4 or 5
contaminated samples," said one employee as Li Changjiang visited Hebei's
provincial test centre on Sunday (September 14).
China's state media Xinhua announced the arrest of two brothers charged
with contaminating milk on Monday (September 15).
The two men surnamed Geng ran a private dairy enterprise and started
adding the chemical melamine to their milk in 2007 in order to boost their
business, said Xinhua, their milk had previously been rejected by the Sanlu
Group. They are reported to have sold three tons of contaminated milk per
day.
Speaking the day before the arrests, Li Changjiang, said he would not
tolerate this type of crime.
"They put these substances into the milk in order to sell more to
customers. They have caused our children and our consumers a lot of pain. They
must be shown no leniency," he said.
This is not the first time Chinese families, particularly in
poorer areas, have been affected by toxic infant milk power.
In 2004, at least 13 babies in the eastern province of Anhui died after
drinking fake milk powder that investigators found had no nutritional
value.
The chemical melamine was linked to deaths and illness of thousands of
cats and dogs in the United States last year after it was added to pet food
components exported from China.
Normally inert, it can trigger the formation of kidney stones in the
presence of cyanuric acid.