Hundreds of parents rush to hospital as the government runs free health
checks for children amid China's growing tainted milk powder scandal.

(ASIA) BEIJING, CHINA (SEPTEMBER 19, 2008) REUTERS -

Crowds of Chinese parents flocked to a Beijing hospital on
Friday (September 19), bringing their infants for free health check-ups as the
Chinese government investigated a growing contaminated milk scandal.
Nearly 10 percent of milk samples from the three top Chinese dairies
have been found to contain melamine, an illegal chemical which has now killed
four children and left thousands more ill in hospital.
The Sanlu Group, the nation's biggest maker of infant milk powder, last
week revealed babies were sick with kidney stones and complications from
drinking tainted milk powder.
At the latest count, 6,244 children have become ill, with four dead and
158 suffering acute kidney failure with parents were continuing to arrive at
the hospitals.
"If he isn't ok, they say that the treatment will be free. When
he's thoroughly checked we can leave," Jin Yantoa said holding his son.

Adding melamine to milk can deceive the quality of tests, making the
protein count appear higher than its actual level. A nation-wide check carried
out this week found that melamine contamination in dairy products ran far
wider than one brand of baby milk.
Li Ligna, a 33-year-old mother from Shanxi province, took her child to
a local hospital for tests. She was advised to bring her child to Beijing for
further tests after doctors suspected he was suffering from an illness related
to tainted milk powder.
"Yes I am (worried). Because I've heard when they are ill it is
really hard, and it takes a long time for them to recover. My child's health
is usually pretty good, but when I took him for a check-up in a local hospital
we were told to come to Beijing the next day as his life was in danger,"
Li said.
Quality officials stressed that most milk was safe to drink, trying to
shore up public trust already shaken by a litany of food scares involving
eggs, pork and seafood in recent years.
However, companies remain suspicious.
Starbucks Corp announced on Thursday (September 18) that its 300-plus
cafes in mainland China have pulled milk supplied by Mengniu Dairy, one of the
companies whose product has tested positive for melamine contamination.
Zhang Xi, who works as an architectural engineer in Beijing, confessed
he had been shocked by the recent scandal since he regularly drinks at the
Starbucks outlet below his office.
"I'm pretty worried. In the future I will certainly trust the milk
industry less. I don't want to see a situation in the future where people go
to the supermarket and see the milk but are scared to buy it," said
Zhang.
Fed up with an almost constant diet of bad news about quality and
safety problems, some Chinese are taking out their frustrations through biting
jokes on the Internet about the seemingly never-ending scandals.
One comic Internet site uses photographs with speech bubbles to
satirise the endless chain of blame that passes all the way from officials at
Sanlu right down to the grass eaten by the cow, each declaring their innocence
in the scandal.
Over the past few years the safety of everything from Chinese-made car
parts and toys to pet food and dumplings has been called into question, both
at home and abroad. The recent poisonings exposed regulatory failure in the
dairy industry that will need more than a bombardment of inspections and
detentions to cure.
Chinese officials have admitted that the city government in
Shijiazhuang, home to the milk powder maker Sanlu, delayed for more than one
month reporting the milk powder contamination, and that the company had been
aware for much longer of the problem.
The Vice Minister Of The General Administration Of Quality Supervision,
Inspection and Quarantine, defended the recent scandal at a news conference in
Beijing on Friday.
"This is not one country's problem. Product quality and product
safety affects all countries and is an issue for the international
community," said Wen Chuanzhong sitting alongside European Union and
United States product safety regulators after a private meeting on consumer
product safety.
Robert Madelin, Director General Of The European Union Directorate
General For Health And Consumer Affairs, said that they have been in touch
with China on the case.
The European Union is China's largest trading partner and has in the
past expressed concern Beijing does not do enough to tackle product and
consumer safety woes.
Madelin stressed, however that the Chinese regulator should not be
blamed for the scandal, but it was expected to act responsibly in responding
to it.
"Trust between regulators is not negatively affected by these
things. Criminal acts happen. It's the second question, what is the impact on
global trade in a given product. Europe has been through this with mad cow,
every country that trades has had these issues so the issue between
governments, between regulators, is are we being immediately open with each
other," he said, following speculation that there may have been a
cover-up.
Authorities have been keen to show their diligence in preventing
further tainted products from getting into the market.
State television broadcast pictures of over five thousand inspectors
deployed on Thursday by the General Administration of Quality Supervision,
Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) to check the produce of 1,548 dairy
companies.
In Hong Kong consumers have become particularly wary of buying any milk
products made in China and are instead stocking up on imported formulas.
At a news conference on Thursday, the Centre for Food Safety tried to
reassure Hong Kong residents that dairy products on store shelves would be
closely checked.
"We will make a full inspection of all brands of baby milk powder
formula no matter where it comes from in any part of the world," said
Constance Chan, a controller at the centre, but consumers remain
unconvinced.
But out on the streets some consumers said they have lost faith on
products made in China after so many incidents.
"There's no organisation in Hong Kong to check all the products
from all the brands. Nothing. So I won't buy anything made in PRC
anymore," said consumer Isis Leung.
Near the border with mainland China, imported baby milk formula was
selling fast with people scooping up as many cans as possible. One store was
limiting customers to three cans each.