China's Tainted-Milk Crisis Grows Despite Official Claims

Twenty-two dairy brands have been found to contain melamine, an industrial chemical used to make plastics and glue. Melamine raises nitrogen readings, thereby making milk appear to be high in protein. In high doses, it is toxic and can cause kidney stones or kidney failure in babies.

Sanlu, a 50-year-old company with 18 percent of the baby formula market before the scandal, initially denied the allegations. According to accounts confirmed by media reports and health officials, the company tried to buy off critics and cover up the contamination, which had been detected as early as December. There were complaints in March, and melamine was confirmed in company tests in early August. But a full recall was not ordered until after Jian posted his exposé.

Sanlu is such a big name that it and 21 other companies considered in good standing were exempt from inspections by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. The watchdog agency's director, Li Changjiang, and several Communist Party officials in Hebei province, where Sanlu is based, lost their jobs last week.

The tragedy would not have been as widespread if more Chinese babies were breast-fed, said Jorgen Schlundt, WHO's director of food safety. Chinese breast-feeding rates have plummeted as more women return to work early and families respond to the aggressive advertising of formula companies, experts said. Less than 50 percent of babies younger than 6 months breast-feed.

But perhaps the main reason for the failure to prevent the contamination and its tragic results is China's inability to control the behavior of tens of thousands of farmers and milk collection center employees, Schlundt and other experts said.

"You need to have a system where you have a culture of openness and quick reporting. . . . It's always a problem when you have many separate authorities that might not have the same culture of reporting," Schlundt said.

China is working on a new food safety law and has placed its Food and Drug Administration under the Ministry of Health. But the country has as many as 16 organizations responsible for its food chain, "and that results in a system that is not optimal," Schlundt said.

Even now, authorities appear more concerned about shutting down protests than encouraging open discussion, said Yin, a Beijing father who has organized several groups of angry parents through the instant-message service QQ.com. Yin spoke on the condition that only his surname be used, because of pressure from government officials.

"It's ridiculous. The company is only worried about defending itself. This is what makes me angry the most," Yin said.

Yin posted an online article by a Beijing lawyer calling for Li, the watchdog agency director, to resign, but government censors deleted the post.

On Friday, 20 lawyers in 15 provinces received threatening visits or calls from their local legal affairs bureaus warning them not to join a group to help the victims of tainted milk, a lawyer in the group said. They were told they could lose their licenses if they did not withdraw from the effort, the lawyer said.

"Our goal is not to help the victims sue the dairy companies. We just want to help them with advice," the lawyer said, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. "We believe the government will eventually have a solution, so it's important to preserve the evidence. We don't understand why we are being stopped."