Published 18 September 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a1738
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a1738

News

Contaminated infant formula sickens 6200 babies in China

Jane Parry

1 Hong Kong

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

More than 6200 babies have become ill in China as a result of drinking infant formula made from milk contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine.

China’s health minister Chen Zhu at a press conference on 17 September, said, "Three babies have died of kidney failure, 158 more have acute kidney failure and 1327 babies remain in hospital." A day later the death toll rose to four.

Melamine, used to boost the protein concentration of cow’s milk when it is tested before sale to milk product manufacturers, was first found in baby formula manufactured by the state owned Sanlu Group, based in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province, and has since been found in products from 22 out of China’s 109 dairy manufacturers’ brands.

Sanlu was the worse offender: all 11 samples tested positive for melamine. But the list included the two other biggest manufacturers—Yili Industrial Group, which was one of . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

Renal screening in children after exposure to low dose melamine in Hong Kong: cross sectional study
Hugh S Lam, Pak C Ng, Winnie C W Chu, William Wong, Dorothy F Y Chan, Stella S Ho, Ka T Wong, Anil T Ahuja, and Chi K Li
BMJ 2008 337: a2991. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Lam, H. S, Ng, P. C, Chu, W. C W, Wong, W., Chan, D. F Y, Ho, S. S, Wong, K. T, Ahuja, A. T, Li, C. K (2008). Renal screening in children after exposure to low dose melamine in Hong Kong: cross sectional study. BMJ 337: a2991-a2991 [Abstract] [Full text]  
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