The Poisoned Milk Cover-Up

The World Health Organization has accused China of deliberately covering up the international scandal of contaminated dairy products, chocolates, sweets and cookies.

"This incident was aggravated by delays in reporting at a number of sources," one WHO spokesperson said. Jorgen Schlundt, head of the WHO's department of food safety, stated that Sanlu sold milk powder with over 100 times the concentration of melamine that an 11 lb. baby can tolerate.

Sanlu, the company at the heart of the crisis, knew about the contamination in June, according to Chinese state media. But they did not notify the government until Aug 2. Officials in Beijing did not make the issue public until the second week of September.

But many other reports tell a different story: "We now know that Sanlu - the company where this all started - knew about their melamine problem in December last year, and they were sitting on it," said one anonymous source. As soon as Fonterra, New Zealand's no.1 dairy company and 43% stake-holder in Sanlu, heard about the possible contamination, they sought to meet with their local partner. "Fonterra was misled by its local partner, stalled by the city government, and indeed threatened by that city government; they were told if you take this further we'll close you down," the source said. Many defend Fonterra. As a minority partner, no foreign company can control events. "If you're a minority partner in a joint venture and something goes wrong, you are always told late. Then if it's serious and you need the co-operation of your local partner the local government will stall you," one said.

While this cover-up going on, damage was being done to babies' kidneys.

From an editorial in the South China Morning Post: "In Hong Kong and other developed economies, repeated complaints ... about a food product would have attracted the attention of the media. Public pressure would have compelled the authorities and companies involved to take prompt action. But in the absence of a vibrant civil society on the mainland, such problems often have deadly or tragic consequences."

Chinese media have been advised to utilize stories produced by the central agencies like Xinhua and China Central TV, and to avoid sending their own independent reporters.

During his visit to the United Nations last week, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao declared: "As head of the government I feel deeply grieved. But the most important thing is to draw a lesson from it."

It seems that he had already forgotten the scandals of 2007, when Zheng Xiaoyu, director of China’s State Food and Drug Administration, was executed for corruption after scandals involving fake or low-quality food and drug products in China.

At that time, State Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman Yan Jiangying declared, "We should seriously reflect and learn lessons from these cases."

Sanlu is one of the official sponsors of the Chinese space program. It is advertised as 'the milk chosen by Chinese astronauts'.

Sources:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7635466.stm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/3088748/China-milk-scandal-WHO-makes-accusations-as-poisoning-spreads.html
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1328082.php/China_executes_top_food-and-drug_official_for_corruption__Roundup_
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24415721-7582,00.html
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/10/asia/AS-GEN-China-Tainted-Products.php

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