A special investigation team dispatched by the Chinese central
government began its probe into the fatal inferior milk powder
cases Friday in Fuyang City of east China's Anhui
Province.?
During his report to the team on Friday, Liu Qingqiang, mayor of
Fuyang, said 13 babies died of malnutrition, and 171 infants
suffered from malnutrition after being fed with milk powder
deficient in protein and other nutrients in the city.
The majority of them live in rural areas in Fuyang, where cheap
milk powder with little nutritional ingredients was available at
rural shops. The children who drank the product developed swollen
heads, while their bodies failed to grow properly.
So far, Fuyang City has confiscated 21,912 suspected bags of
inferior milk powder and sealed 29,550 bags of milk powder.
Local police have detained 17 people on charges of selling
substandard milk powder, and 34 more people were under
investigation.
Zheng Xiaoyu, director of the State Food and Drug Administration
and head of the team, said the team would, as ordered by Chinese
Premier Wen Jiabao, conduct a thorough probe into the charges, and
the source of the products, its dealers and the areas where the
milk powder was sold, and promised proper medical service for the
victims.
The team was set up Thursday as instructed earlier this week by
Premier Wen, who promised severe punishment for those responsible
for the accident according to law.
The team, which left Beijing Thursday night, held a meeting with
Anhui provincial officials soon after they arrived in Hefei, the
provincial capital, later that night.
The team is composed of officials and experts from six other
ministries or bureaus, including the Ministry of Public Security,
Ministry of Health and Ministry of Commerce.
The premier also ordered continued efforts to rectify the food
and drug market as a priority for the country's campaign to
regulate its economic and market order in a bid to ensure food
safety and health of the general public.
Reports on the malnutrition and deaths among infants triggered
inspections of milk powder across the country. Similar inferior
mild powder was also blamed for the malnutrition of a dozen babies
in Heze City in neighboring Shandong
Province, China Central Television?(CCTV) reported
Wednesday.
Jiangsu
Province and Beijing also launched inspection of milk powder
products on the market.
(Xinhua News Agency April 24, 2004)