Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

News

China’s tainted infant formula sickens nearly 13 000 babies

BMJ 2008; 337 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.a1802 (Published 24 September 2008) Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a1802

Rapid Response:

Position of WHO on Chinese contaminated dairy products, Questioned?

Adding substances other than those proven allowable food additives to
the food items consumed by general public is an unethical and immoral
social act. All the signs indicated that the problem of melamine tainted
milk was surfaced inside China long before the summer Olympic game.
Therefore, it is highly suspected that there is some kind of "cover up"
existed for whatever the reason. The total number of victims should have
surpassed 39,965 given by Chinese Health Authority by now.They have never
updated the statistics since September 21st after they first reported.
The experiment on melamine-caused damage resulting in the death of the
cats and dogs fed by pet food contamination manufactured in China was just
not too long ago in March 2007. I am so puzzuled by the position taken by
WHO on this very important health issue " For now WHO is not recommending
that countries ban the import of Chinese dairy products" There must be
more definite statement to ban all the contaminted food items manufactured
from any locality on earth by WHO. That should be the ultimate
resposibility of this organization.

Competing interests:
None declared

Competing interests: No competing interests

03 October 2008
brian,p hung
chief of general surgery
chutung, taiwan
chutung general hospital,department of health