Thirteen infants in east China's Anhui
Province have died of nutritional deficiencies from consuming
substandard milk powder.
According to a recent investigation, 171 infants suffered from
malnutrition after being fed with milk powder deficient in protein
and other nutrients. Two are still being treated in hospital.
While a China Daily report says more than 50 babies in the
province have died of malnutrition. One of the latest victims is a
three-month girl called Han Qin, who was sent into Fuyang People's
Hospital last Monday.
The majority of them live in rural areas in Fuyang City. The
parents bought cheap milk powder which contained little nutritional
ingredients at rural shops in Fuyang. The children displayed
swollen heads, while their bodies failed to grow properly.
The news aroused widespread repercussions after it was broadcast
on television Monday. The Anhui provincial government issued an
urgent circular Tuesday, calling for immediate rectification of the
milk powder market and severe punishment of law breakers.
Provincial Governor Wang Jinshan said in a fax to the general
office of the provincial government Monday evening that immediate
measures must be taken to investigate where the milk powder came
from and the responsibilities of various parties, and how to
compensate the victims.
The tragedy has caught national attention.
Premier Wen Jiabao has vowed a thorough investigation and severe
penalties for the producers of the fake powder. An investigation
team was sent to Fuyang by the State Food and Drug Administration
on Monday.
With the support of several other departments including the
State General Administration for Quality Supervision and Inspection
and Quarantine, State Administration of Industry and Commerce and
the Ministry of Health, the investigation team will try to find out
how the fake powder cases hit the market and punish those behind
the sales.
The team will also try to develop measures to prevent a similar
tragedy from happening again, food and drug administration
officials said Tuesday.
So far, Fuyang City has confiscated 6,110 bags of inferior milk
powder and sealed 12,862 bags of milk powder. Investigation of key
milk powder wholesale agents is under way.
Officials suspect cheap milk powders produced in north China's
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, northeast China's Heilongjiang
Province and Beijing.
Bans on milk powders which failed to reach the national standard
of protein content for infant milk powder -- at least 10 percent --
are in place. Some 33 brands of milk powder have also been put on a
"black list." However, those brands can be found on the market.
Some of them have only 1 percent of protein, almost providing no
nutrition for babies' growth, health experts said.
Food security is a serious problem in rural areas, said Xia
Jiechang, an economics professor with the China Academy of Social
Sciences.
"Rural areas become the biggest distributing centers for
low-quality and counterfeit goods, where supervision is slack and
information is insufficient," Xia said.
(Sources including Xinhua News Agency and China Daily, April 21,
2004)