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India bans Chinese dairy products |
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India has banned the import of dairy items including milk and milk products from China for three months following reports of contamination of baby food with melamine leading to deaths or development of kidney stones among children in that country.
A notification issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade on Sept. 25 said the import of all dairy products including milk and milk products is prohibited for three months with immediate effect and until further orders.
India has thus joined dozens of countries around the world in banning the import of dairy products from China. Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Bangladesh, Gabon, Burundi and the Philippines are among the countries banning Chinese baby products or pulling them from the shelves altogether. In Hong Kong two girls were found to have died after drinking tainted milk. In China, four children are dead and more than 50,000 are sick after consuming toxic milk products especially baby milk. In a dramatic update of previous figures, the Chinese Health Ministry said on Sept. 23 a total of 52,857 children were taken to hospital after drinking milk thought to have been contaminated by the industrial chemical, melamine. Most had basically recovered but 12,892 of them remained in hospitals, a health ministry official said in Beijing. Earlier this month, there were only 59 known cases of babies sickened after feeding on milk powder produced by the Sanglu group which had since been halted. It was discovered that melamine was being used in milk products especially powder for infants. Melamine is an industrial chemical used to fix protein strength in adulterated milk. It, as is now becoming well-known, damages the kidney and in extreme cases even lead to organ failure. It is also becoming evident that milk producers had information on the adulteration for months before they finally ordered a massive recall.
The Chinese Government had taken some belated steps to stop its spread. Some products of 22 dairy companies, including the three biggest in China, have been recalled. The head of China’s product quality watchdog, Li Changjiang, has stepped down. Observers say, the widespread nature of the crisis reflects a systematic breakdown in supervision of the dairy industry and China’s regulatory mechanism. It was only a year ago that product safety system was overhauled with new regulations to try to restore consumer confidence after a string of recalls and warnings abroad over tainted toothpastes, faulty tyres and other goods.
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