TheWorld Health Organization reports more than 54,000 children inChina have sought medical treatment, 12,000 are hospitalized andat least four infants have died from melamine-contaminated dairyproducts.
WHO says it only learned about these toxic products onSeptember 11. By then, it says they had been marketed to Chineseconsumers for months, turning this food safety scare into a globalscandal.
WHO Food Safety Scientist, Peter Ben Embarek, says theball started to roll as soon as WHO was informed of the crisis. Hesays swift action was taken to recall all contaminated products on themarket. He says the Chinese authorities have been providing regularupdates and cooperating in every way.
He says all of theseproducts are going through intensive testing so what is on the shelf inChina is now probably safe. He says the Chinese have tested tens ofthousands of products over the last few weeks.
"So you can besure that what is on the shelf is by-in-large coming from a safesource," said Embarek. "They also are importing increasingly foreignproducts that have also been tested and also ensure that they come fromproduction systems with safe ingredients. All of these measures shouldreassure parents that what is now on the shelf is safe."
But,Embarek acknowledges it will take a lot of time and patience to restoreconfidence among consumers who feel abused and cheated.
Melamineis used in making plastics and is high in nitrogen, which makesproducts appear to have more protein content. In small amounts it isharmless. But, sustained use can cause kidney stones and renalfailure, especially among children.
The chemical has beenfound in other dairy products as well. The Chinese maker of thepopular White Rabbit Candy, made from milk, stopped domestic andforeign sales of the candy after finding melamine.
The candyhas been found in Hong Kong, New Zealand and Singapore. A growingnumber of countries are barring imports of Chinese products containingmilk.
Embarek attributes much of the problems to, what he calls,the incredible pace in the development of food, agricultural, andindustrial production in China over the past few decades. He says theagencies in charge of setting the rules and monitoring food safety inthe private sector are not developing at the same pace.
"Andthat opened the gates and the door to all kind of, I would say,misbehavior and incidents and criminal and intentional acts like wehave seen in this case," said Embarek. "The large scale of this eventensures that it was clearly not an isolated accident. It was alarge-scale intentional activity to deceive consumers for simple,basic, short-term profits."
The World Health Organization saysthe industry in China and elsewhere has to adopt the culture of foodsafety. It says countries must strengthen their food control andfood-borne disease surveillance systems. It says this could minimizefood safety crises such as the dairy scandal in China.