只是個教英文的May

Worried Parents in China Wait for Answers on Tainted Formula

 One father, Zhang Gaofeng, 35, had waited more than a day at the hospital with his wife, Wang Hui, and their 22-month-old daughter, Yue. The couple had fed Yue the Sanlu brand of baby formula now at the center of a nationwide food safety scandal that has left three infants dead and sickened more than 6,000 babies. Mr. Zhang, a migrant worker, blamed corporate greed.

"They are trying to make a profit off the people who are not rich enough to afford the imported brands," he said as he waited in the hospital parking lot with other families. "Poor people can only afford the low-end products like this one." He said the Sanlu product had cost about $3.20 for two days' worth of formula, compared with about $5 for the top brands.

The anxiety at Children's Hospital is just one snapshot of a scandal that has broadened every day since it became public last week. On Wednesday, Health Minister Chen Zhu reported that more than 1,300 infants had been hospitalized and that 158 had suffered acute kidney failure after being fed formula contaminated with the industrial additive melamine.

With anger rising, the State Council, China's cabinet, pledged an overhaul of the nation's dairy industry, and government officials tried to reassure people by issuing a statement that "most" of China's baby formula was safe.

But public confidence seemed shaken. "What should we eat, then?" asked one person on an Internet discussion forum. "I'm furious! The milk powder is now exposed, but what about other tainted food that we don't know about? What has the central government been doing every day?"

Melamine, the contaminant, is used to make plastics and fertilizers but banned from food production. In the past, it has sometimes been illicitly blended into agricultural products as a cheap way to raise protein levels.

Milk producers sometimes inflate their supplies by adding water. But the diluted milk has lower nutrient levels, so melamine, high in nitrogen, is then added to restore those levels artificially to meet protein requirements. Infants who drink the formula for sustained periods can develop kidney stones and suffer kidney failure.

Initially, the contamination was thought to be confined to baby formula produced by the Sanlu Group, one of China's largest dairy companies. But investigators have since discovered traces of melamine in batches of powdered formula made by 21 other dairy companies, including the biggest, Mengniu Dairy. Mengniu and other companies have recalled tainted products, even as government officials have promised to correct the problems so that big operators can resume or even expand production to meet demand.

"They can absolutely undergo a major overhaul in a short period of time," Li Changjiang, head of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said Wednesday during a news conference carried live on national television.

A quick remedy might seem overly optimistic, given that China experienced a similar baby formula scandal in 2004. Last year, after a string of food and drug safety failures, government officials promised to root out official corruption and strengthen regulation of the food and drug industries. Now, a group of lawyers is organizing lawsuits on behalf of parents against dairy companies.

The authorities have arrested four suspects, offered free medical care to ailing children and sent investigators across the country to inspect dairy operations. Four officials in Hebei Province were fired Tuesday, including Tian Wenhua, chairwoman and general manager of Sanlu Group, based in Hebei. Ms. Tian was also fired from a post in the Communist Party.

More Articles in World » A version of this article appeared in print on September 18, 2008, on page A6 of the New York edition.

(以下作品為小妮子個人作業，未經修訂喔................) 

My Response to Tainted Formula

     My parents are retiring businessmen.  They told me that the trusty and the conscience are two important issues if I chose to run my own business with my sibs.  The decline of the conscience will affect our life, for sooner or later I will be punished in some way if I sell fake products to my clients.  The trusty is always the base of interpersonal reaction, and it can make us to go a long steady way with our clients.  Today, the Deputy Minister, Yen-Jen Sung, of Health Department proved that my mom is right about her faith.

     Health Deputy Minister held a news conference this afternoon for Sanlu brand of baby tainted formula.  He announced that any dairy products will not be allowed to import to Taiwan from now on, unless China can prove that she can be trusted.  Since I learned the news saying the formula had been sold to Taiwan long ago, my confidence to the ruling party went under zero.  This official announcement a bit cheered me up. 

     However, my gladness did not last long because the news I had read jumped into my head.  In the lines, the man on the Net discussion forum said furiously, "What should we eat, then?"  I felt like drifting helplessly on the sea without seeing the boundary as I read through his words and the whole article.  What can the government officials do for us?  According to the news, the readers might have a feeling that the China officers made a quick decision to arrest and fire the related people; nevertheless, this reported case of the tainted formula is only the tip of the iceberg.

     In the first place, on Moon Festival eve, a China officer declared that the product only sold to Mainland China and Taiwan only, and the government had known it far before in this March.  A week later, it has showed that there are more tainted products selling to more countries.  It shows that China did not worth trusting.  Now, the trusty between China and other countries is destroyed completely because Chinese even made an illegal profit from infant food with no conscience.

     I see no good intention, which Taiwan officer had mentioned a few days ago, in this fatal issue.  Finally, in Taiwan, I have found one.  The King Car Group sent their products to the authoritative test center, and this company did it two days before the government announced to offer the free test for the enterprises.  I believe it is so called "Enterprise Social Responsibility".  I look forward to seeing China has her courage to face the problem of managing and wish that there are no more things like this happening to anyone.