<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>1 in 20 Shanghai kids may be sick
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Rising numbers of children suffering effects of melamine </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Chua Chin Hon, China Bureau Chief
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In Taiwan, Pizza Hut pulled grated cheese from its outlets after the product was found to contain high levels of melamine. A Taiwanese health official has suggested that the island could have three young victims. -- PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->BEIJING: More infants could be affected by China's tainted milk powder scandal than were first imagined, with reports pointing to rising numbers of children in Shanghai, Taiwan and Hong Kong who might have kidney stones.
The state-run China Daily newspaper reported yesterday that up to 5per cent of children under three years old in Shanghai could have kidney stones after consuming the melamine-contaminated milk powder.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>How much melamine is bad?
WITH no quick end in sight to the problem, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday it was developing a rapid risk assessment system that would help governments gauge the acceptable level of melamine contamination in food products.
But Mr Jorgen Schlundt, a senior food safety expert with the WHO, told reporters at a press conference in Beijing that it could take months before the system is ready.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The report cited a citywide health check in the booming Chinese financial hub, but gave no figures on the number of children affected. Nonetheless, it pointed to the fact that the problem may not be restricted to the poor or rural parts of China, as many consumers here had assumed.
In China, at least four infants have died, while about 54,000 others have fallen sick, after being fed milk powder tainted with melamine, an industrial chemical used to make plastics and tan leather.
Melamine was added to make the milk's protein content appear higher, though it caused infants who drank the milk to develop kidney stones.
In Hong Kong, a fifth child was found to be suffering from kidney problems after drinking tainted milk.
Meanwhile, a health official in Taiwan suggested the island could have three young victims.
Ms Liu Yi-lien, health chief of eastern Taiwan's Ilan county, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that three infants who had drunk Chinese milk had been diagnosed with kidney stones, though more tests were needed to establish a formal link.
These reports, combined with the almost daily revelation of a further made-in-China food product being tainted with melamine, have fanned global concerns about the problem.
The European Union on Thursday banned imports of baby food containing Chinese milk, joining a growing list of countries that have imposed similar bans or recalled Chinese dairy products.
European regulators have also ordered compulsory testing for processed food from China that contain powdered milk.
The Chinese government is said to have ordered its own domestic checks on a wide range of food products as well, though no official announcement has been made.
Meanwhile, the Shanghai-based producer of the popular White Rabbit brand of candy took the unexpected step of suspending domestic sales even before local test results are out.
The company, Guanshengyuan, had already recalled all exports after tests in Singapore showed the sweets contained melamine.
[email protected] <!-- end of for each --><!-- Current Ratings : start --><!-- Current Ratings : end --><!-- vbbintegration : start --><!-- vbbintegration : end --><!-- dennis change request 20070424 : start --><!---Google ad - Start : Sat, 27 Sep 2008 07:11:24:928---><!-- AdSpace STI Google ad tag --><SCRIPT language=JavaScript1.1 src="http://ads.asia1.com.sg/js.ng/site=tsti&pagepos=20&size=10X10"> </SCRIPT>
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Rising numbers of children suffering effects of melamine </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Chua Chin Hon, China Bureau Chief
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
In Taiwan, Pizza Hut pulled grated cheese from its outlets after the product was found to contain high levels of melamine. A Taiwanese health official has suggested that the island could have three young victims. -- PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->BEIJING: More infants could be affected by China's tainted milk powder scandal than were first imagined, with reports pointing to rising numbers of children in Shanghai, Taiwan and Hong Kong who might have kidney stones.
The state-run China Daily newspaper reported yesterday that up to 5per cent of children under three years old in Shanghai could have kidney stones after consuming the melamine-contaminated milk powder.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>How much melamine is bad?
WITH no quick end in sight to the problem, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday it was developing a rapid risk assessment system that would help governments gauge the acceptable level of melamine contamination in food products.
But Mr Jorgen Schlundt, a senior food safety expert with the WHO, told reporters at a press conference in Beijing that it could take months before the system is ready.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The report cited a citywide health check in the booming Chinese financial hub, but gave no figures on the number of children affected. Nonetheless, it pointed to the fact that the problem may not be restricted to the poor or rural parts of China, as many consumers here had assumed.
In China, at least four infants have died, while about 54,000 others have fallen sick, after being fed milk powder tainted with melamine, an industrial chemical used to make plastics and tan leather.
Melamine was added to make the milk's protein content appear higher, though it caused infants who drank the milk to develop kidney stones.
In Hong Kong, a fifth child was found to be suffering from kidney problems after drinking tainted milk.
Meanwhile, a health official in Taiwan suggested the island could have three young victims.
Ms Liu Yi-lien, health chief of eastern Taiwan's Ilan county, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that three infants who had drunk Chinese milk had been diagnosed with kidney stones, though more tests were needed to establish a formal link.
These reports, combined with the almost daily revelation of a further made-in-China food product being tainted with melamine, have fanned global concerns about the problem.
The European Union on Thursday banned imports of baby food containing Chinese milk, joining a growing list of countries that have imposed similar bans or recalled Chinese dairy products.
European regulators have also ordered compulsory testing for processed food from China that contain powdered milk.
The Chinese government is said to have ordered its own domestic checks on a wide range of food products as well, though no official announcement has been made.
Meanwhile, the Shanghai-based producer of the popular White Rabbit brand of candy took the unexpected step of suspending domestic sales even before local test results are out.
The company, Guanshengyuan, had already recalled all exports after tests in Singapore showed the sweets contained melamine.
[email protected] <!-- end of for each --><!-- Current Ratings : start --><!-- Current Ratings : end --><!-- vbbintegration : start --><!-- vbbintegration : end --><!-- dennis change request 20070424 : start --><!---Google ad - Start : Sat, 27 Sep 2008 07:11:24:928---><!-- AdSpace STI Google ad tag --><SCRIPT language=JavaScript1.1 src="http://ads.asia1.com.sg/js.ng/site=tsti&pagepos=20&size=10X10"> </SCRIPT>
