After the huge pride generated by the Olympics, a health scare involving baby-milk formula has left Chinese people reeling, writes Clifford Coonanin Beijing
IT'S NOT YET lunchtime in Beijing's Capital Institute of Paediatrics hospital, but already the queue of hundreds of worried parents rocking blissfully unaware babies in their arms stretches from the crowded administrative building back out into the sun-drenched yard behind it.
No one is panicking, but there is a definite atmosphere of fear as frantic mothers and fathers, clutching blue information leaflets, line up for a free test to see if their babies have been made sick by the greed of unscrupulous food producers. Four children have died so far in various parts of China and thousands are sick with kidney stones following the discovery of the dangerous chemical, melamine, in baby milk formula. Thousands more are at risk and everyone is worried that were only seeing the start of this scandal.
As well as fear, there is shock. There is something so basic about milk for a baby. If not even the simplest human needs are immune from money-grabbing criminals and corrupt officials, then what is left?
The milk scare first emerged after China's biggest dairy, the Sanlu Group, revealed its milk powder contained melamine. A subsequent investigation showed that 22 of 109 Chinese dairy producers, including top brands, made products adulterated with the substance.
The contaminated milk scandal comes on top of a series of scares that include lead-tainted toys, toxic pet food, contaminated toothpaste and poisoned dumplings, and has spread overseas with two dairy producers recalling exports to Yemen, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Gabon and Burundi.
There is a feeling that yet again it is the weakest people in the country that are being preyed on - the children. There are lingering, bitter memories of 2004, when at least 13 babies in eastern Anhui province died after drinking fake milk powder that investigators found had no nutritional value.
Ji Chuntang, the mayor of Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province, where Sanlu is based, has been fired, the latest official to be canned over the scandal.
Sanlu's chairwoman Tian Wenhua has been detained by police, and her daughter is blogging frantically in her defence.
What is also extremely worrying is just how long it took for the recall of milk formula to happen. Sanlu is 43 per cent owned by New Zealand's Fonterra Co-op. They initially approached local authorities at the start of August, but were ignored. Some commentators claim this was because the Olympics were about to start.
New Zealands prime minister, Helen Clark, said she ordered her officials to bypass regional authorities and inform Beijing directly.
The Hebei police has confiscated 300 kilos of suspected chemicals, mostly melamine. One suspect told police that from February 2007 to July 2008 he bought 200 20 kilo sacks of melamine, and sold them all to milk suppliers. This raises the truly frightening possibility that this has been going on for a lot longer than a couple of months.
Some of the milk formula were "National inspection-free products". "Inspection-free" is a special status awarded to the most trusted food producers, and is a title often used in advertising. This is one of the reasons why this scandal has really shocked people in China, and the status has been revoked by the government. Meanwhile back at the hospital the first sight you see when you walk in is a long red banner which reads: "Support breastfeeding and win the first gold medal of your life".
Liu Xiaoji is taking this advice and has resumed breast feeding her daughter, Liu Yixin, who is 11 months old, having started to bottle feed her a month ago.
"Every parent is worried about this situation. We just had a check-up. They checked her urine and they gave her an ultrasound. It went very quickly, it all took half an hour, but there are a lot of people there," said Liu.
"I've started breastfeeding again. Yixin only started on milk powder a month ago - she took Yili brand formula, so everything should be okay, shouldn't it?" said Liu.
It should - after all, Yili was one of the Olympic sponsors, a stock-market listed company that is one of the most successful food companies in China. But things are not okay, and Yili's yoghurt ice-cream bars have been recalled from Hong Kong supermarkets after they were discovered to have melamine in them. The list of "problematic" Yili products in Hong Kong has lengthened to include a wide range of dairy products, including plain milk.
In the hospital, at least 150 people stand in the queue, while scores more family members throng around. Many families leave someone waiting while the others go off to try and entertain the kids during the long wait.
Song Xuejian is minding her 14-month-old granddaughter, Miting, while her daughter stands in the queue. Miting had been drinking one of the formula brands on the list of contaminated products.
"I was very frightened and worried when I heard the news first. Like many people, we have only one child in our family, so we're very worried. If she's okay, we'll all be very relieved," says Song.
"We're angry - the company should have made routine checks, not just because of the discovery of this chemical," she says.
"In my day there was no infant milk formula, there was just breastfeeding, then solids like rice. But her mother has to work, so milk powder is the only option now," says Song, who lives with her daughter to look after the child.
Wang Junxiang has brought her seven- month-old son Jindong for testing because he has been ill. The initial urine test is fine, now they have to wait for a scan to see if his kidneys are okay. Clutching a yellow inflatable Tellytubby, he has no idea of the strain his folks are under.
"I don't have milk so I had to use the formula. I will have to choose another brand now to feed my baby. China has a lot of people but everyone needs to be responsible. People should be punished appropriately. The morality is very bad," she says.
Another believer that breast is best in these troubled days is Li Ju, mother of nine-month-old Xiang Yao. "I'm sticking to breast milk, I'm not going to switch to formula. I'm too worried. I'll move her straight onto rice," she says.
Nearly all the babies are wearing split pants - Chinese infants generally do not wear nappies, but instead they are toilet trained from very early on by trial and error. A green area in the yard behind the hospital has groups of parents playing with the babies.
Some people refuse to be interviewed, worried about the impact of the reports on China's image, particularly after all the good work done during the Olympics.
While we talk to people in the hospital we are approached by security men, who physically prevent us from taking pictures inside. They also tell us we cannot ask questions and that we have to leave the hospital.
Zhu Weiwei, 31, a pregnant maths teacher says she feels lucky that her baby is not yet born. "If he or she was born a few months ago, I think I would have fed him or her with Yili or Meng Niu milk powder. Those brands are quite famous. I also have drunk their products for some time," says Zhu.
"I feel dismayed about our domestic brands. I heard some officials are fired. But it can not compensate those poor babies. They are ill, probably for all their life. How can those companies be responsible for those innocent babies health? Money cant do everything. How can those people do such a terrible thing to babies for money? I will of course buy foreign brands in future," she says.
FOLLOWING THE FLURRY OF FOOD scares last year, China launched a crackdown that culminated in the execution of its sacked food and drug safety chief. This time the central government is again making it clear it will take action.
In a statement the State council said it would "resolutely punish law-breaking criminals and conscientiously pursue the culpable businesses, supervisory agencies and administrative heads."
People are asking why this keeps happening and many have started using grisly sign-offs on their online instant messenger programmes as a way of showing their horror at the way the food scandal is developing, and many of them are fiercely critical of the government. "We work hard for six months, then suddenly we return to the pre-Olympic era". "Drink a glass of milk a day, wipe out a country!", "Drink milk, kill the next generation", "Who on earth chose a cow as the Paralympic mascot?" and, perhaps most tellingly, "Foreign milk costs money, domestic milk costs lives".
After a month of pride in China's national achievements, with so many gold medals in the Olympics and Paralympics, and a feeling that China has truly taken its place at the table of great nations, the food scandal has reignited negative sentiments about the country's ability to compete internationally.
MELAMINE
Melamine - which is banned in food- is the common name for tripolycyanamide, an industrial chemical used in making plastics, fertilisers and cleaning products, as well as in tanning leather. It is high in nitrogen and when added to milk it can make it seem like it has a higher proteincontent, which allows farmers to cut costs by watering down their products. It can trigger the formation of kidney stones