For a few days I’ve been struggling with myself. The dilemma was whether to write about something that so many are writing about. Asking myself whether or not I can provide a unique viewpoint, added value, anything. Then it came to me. I do live in Beijing, my family and I consume milk products, I read and watch the international media, and I speak to many Beijing resident. I may have a special viewpoint. Besides, I wrote about many major events I’ve witnessed while living here. The Olympic Games would be a good example. This is, at least in my mind, even bigger than that.
What am I talking about? The milk crisis. I call it the milk crisis, because it started a while ago, the efforts to locate the perpetrators and the victims are ongoing, and there’s no end in sight. Crisis. Trust is lost, and so are lives. Young lives. Thousands of children are affected, hundreds of thousands of worried parents, imports, exports, international relations, media, and anger. Lots of anger. Fury may be a better word.
So here’s the story as I understand it from reading and listening.
A few years back, there was a phenomenon called “big head babies”. The phenomenon was connected to baby formula lacking the essential nutrition for babies to grow normally. Protein deficiency in particular. The deficiency was the result of watered down, diluted milk. In response, the government placed very strict requirements on the quality of milk. Protein content was now closely controlled. In response, some milk farmers found melamine. A toxic chemical used in the production of plastics, that has the side effect of being able to fool the protein measuring sensors into believing that the watered down milk has a higher protein content than it really does.
Who won? There are no winners here. Losers only.
Melamine was supposed to be familiar to pet owners in the US. In 2007, thousands of cats and dogs died as a result of exposure to melamine in imported pet food. The imports were from China. But I’m embarrassed to say, since I was not an American pet owner in 2007, the name melamine meant absolutely nothing to me. Apparently, many others were not familiar with that name, and with the practice of “enriching” nutrition-less food with melamine.
The way from pet food to milk is short.
There’s something I must say though. The story so far happened in many countries, Israel included. Precisely 5 years ago, one of Israel’s top brand name baby formulas was found deadly to babies. By error, vitamin B1 was not added to the formula, and the deficiency caused several babies to die, and others to be seriously ill. The brand name lost its entire market share, and coincidentally, ceased to exist last week. On another widely reported incident, silicon compounds were found in UHT milk. The public uproar was loud and clear. Action was quick and swift.
What was observed here though is different. I’ve read about adding water to food to make it weigh more, using more pesticides, fertilizers to yield larger crops. I have never read about adding poison to babies’ food. On purpose.
I simply can’t let go of the following sentence: “Babies began dying as early as May 1. It took until September 11 for Sanlu, the giant Chinese dairy company at the centre of the initial investigation, to admit problems. Now it appears the Olympic Games may have been the reason for this fatal delay in taking action to save babies’ lives”. (Entire story)
Is this true? I don’t know. But as a father to four, the youngest at the age of five, I am concerned, I am alarmed, and I am very upset. My children love yogurt. Corn flakes and milk. Healthy food. Is it?
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