The discovery in China of melamine in eggs, as well as in baby formula, milk products, biscuits, and chocolate confirms what has been long suspected — that the deadly chemical is deeply embedded in the human food chain. And it’s not just melamine. Heavy metals such as lead and mercury, which can cause brain damage, as well as cadmium, a compound used in batteries, pesticides, and antibiotics, are all present in our food chain.
What is melamine anyway? Don’t they use it to make cheapo dishes? A by-product of the coal industry, melamine is a chemical compound with numerous industrial uses, including the production of plastics, dishware, kitchenware, commercial filters, laminates, adhesives, molding compounds (caulking), coatings, and flame retardants. Yum, just the thing to put in food.
China is one of the world’s largest industrial producers of melamine for the manufacturing of plastic, so the chemical is cheap and readily available. In the case of milk products, which get tested for levels of protein, the addition of melamine make it appear to contain the required amount of nitrogen (and therefore protein). But the nitrogen comes in the form of plastic.
China also uses carcinogenic chemicals as food-coloring agents or as preservatives. Long known to be mutagenic as well as carcinogenic, Sudan red and Malachite green, for instance, are added routinely to food made in China. The country also suffers from serious environmental contamination as well, caused by its indiscriminate use of pesticides and formaldehyde.
As a result of this most recent contamination, that of melamine, tens of thousands of Chinese children have fallen ill with kidney problems in recent months. At least four have died after being fed infant formula that was later found to have been mixed with melamine. And the problem will linger: Some of the children who have ingested this surfeit of melamine may need surgery or transplants in the future to avoid potentially deadly kidney failure.
Tests have found melamine in any number of Chinese-made products exported around the world, leading to large recalls and foodstuffs being pulled from retailers’ shelves. The discovery of melamine in eggs, apparently due to contaminated feed given to chickens, indicates the chemical appears to be far more present in the food chain than was first thought.
Companies, including the worldwide confectioner Cadbury and the biggest retailer of them all, Wal-Mart, have tightened supplier regulations and/or recalled products, some as a precaution, some because tests revealed the presence of melamine. Who can blame them?
This is an intolerable situation. When will China stop poisoning the world?
Comments
Leave a Comment