Daily Lesson from Life 12 September 2008

"More babies found sick in China milk scandal

Govt: Those responsible will face severe punishment. -Sat, Sep 13, 2008 AFP

BEIJING, Sept 13, 2008 (AFP) - The number of babies and infants reported sick after being fed contaminated milk powder in China jumped Saturday as the government vowed severe punishment for those responsible.

The spike in the number of reported sick children comes two days after 59 babies in one province alone were reported suffering from kidney stones as a result of consuming the milk powder, resulting in at least one death.

After health departments nationwide were ordered Friday to report all cases of babies suffering kidney stones from drinking Sanlu brand milk powder, 25 cases were reported in Beijing and another 22 in Shanghai.

The health ministry late Friday said an initial investigation confirmed the milk powder tainted with the industrial chemical melamine was responsible for the spate of kidney problems in babies nationwide.

Investigators also found state-owned Sanlu Group knew the milk powder was contaminated in August, but did not release the information until after reports of sick babies emerged this week, the health ministry said.

"Those responsible for the contaminated milk will face severe punishment," the ministry said.

Media reports said dairy farmers were suspected of lacing milk used in the Sanlu brand formula with melamine to boost its protein content.

Melamine, a chemical used in making plastics, glues and other products, was at the centre of a US recall of pet foods containing Chinese-made additives last year.

China has in recent years endured a series of high-profile safety scandals over its food and other products sold overseas, as well as domestically."

After a successful Olympic Game, China is back in the limelight for the wrong reasons.

It is a very clear case of unethical behaviors and greed overpowering the need to put safety of the consumers as 1st and top priority. Unless, of course, the dairy farmers claimed that they did not laced milk with melamine or that they are not aware of the danger it introduced!

Lessons for me are:

1. when people lost sight of why they are in certain business and only concerned about making money, poor or warped judgement will be exercised that resulted in temporary 'successes' but 'grief in the long run' as nobody can fool everyone all the time!;

2. when such a disaster struck, people minds are focused. For a while the auditors will be very diligent, the regulators will be very vigilant, the industry will be keen to restore confidence. However, unless the conditions under which these 'crimes' were allowed to happen are examined thoroughly, the sad tale will be repeated again later. Is there a systemic breakdown or corruption that allow such a dangerous product to flow into the market? is there adequate check and balance mechanism or the people who are responsible for administering it get 'corrupted'?;

3. the only force to discern and deter such malpractice is the awareness of the consumers to their rights to protest and report; and for the regulatory authorities to take swift actions to bring the culprits to justice and punished them with sentences that fix the crimes. The crime should read: murderous intention! Only when the potential culprits realized they may have to pay with their life for that extra money will they think hard. It is their choice!!

May the babies who were sicked get help and recover well. And my condolences to those who lost their babies in this incident!