Tragic.
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BEIJING - China's agriculture minister acknowledged Tuesday that the country's milk-gathering system was "out of control" and led to abuses that put contaminated dairy products in stores across Asia, sickening some 54,000 babies and killing four.
At least nine countries banned imports of Chinese dairy products, and the World Health Organization warned of possible smuggling of melamine-tainted infant formula across borders. The European Union told customs authorities to keep a closer eye on food imports from China.
Melamine, used to make plastics and fertilizer, has been found in infant formula and other milk products from 22 Chinese dairy companies. Suppliers trying to cut costs are believed to have added it to watered-down milk because its high nitrogen content masks the resulting protein deficiency.
Since the discovery of tainted milk was made public, China's government has scrambled to respond. Recent days have seen a number of arrests and forced resignations of officials as reports of sickened children spread outside the Chinese mainland to Hong Kong and Macau.
A total of five children outside the Chinese mainland — in Hong Kong and Macau — have been diagnosed with kidney stones after drinking Chinese-made milk products and Hong Kong regulators found tainted cake, officials said Tuesday.
A 16-month old child in the southern Chinese gambling enclave Macau was diagnosed after being fed Nestle milk powder made in China's northeastern Heilongjiang province, the government said in a statement. No government tests have found melamine in Nestle milk products, and Switzerland-based Nestle said its milk products sold in China and Hong Kong are "absolutely safe" and that none are made from tainted milk.
