Milk and Melamine

Recently, I am fascinated by the milk scandal now happening in China. It literally speaks volumes about their business practices, government ideology, and their economic revolution.

For those who have glossed over this recent news, let me give a short run down about the controversy. In an effort to increase profits out of the very tame industry of milk farming, the milk suppliers sought a method to water down the milk, without alerting the consumers or the government. Watering down milk is an old practice, so it is commonly tested for by measuring the amount of protein in a given volume. Very normal, boring chemistry. But the suppliers to the milk companies decided to use a simple trick--add an industrial chemical called melamine to the milk to mimic the protein (seen in my picture above). Now they can sell 100 liters of milk for 200 liters, by adding some water and a pinch of powder.

Now melamine is normally used to make plastics and fertilizer. Not extremely toxic, but nothing you would want to eat either, since it can shut down the kidneys by forming kidney stones. Now what strikes me so dumbfounded is the sheer carelessness for your own people, your own children. You could not have a found a better way to poison children in the Chinese culture. China, by history, is not much of a dairy consuming society. Just look at a Chinese menu next time you stop for Sweet and sour chicken. So the majority of those affected are those ingesting milk products like baby formula. Some 13000 infants and children are now hospitalized due to stones or kidney failure so far. Then you have the sheer logistical problem of testing the mass of panicked mothers and their babies from a country with 1.3 BILLION people.

Two things are very surprising about the whole story. The government was alerted to the problem in January. It wasn't until Sept. 11 that they alerted their own public. So much for the communist society where all people are accorded the same worth and respect. The astounding fact is that not one, not two separate companies were found, but 22 Chinese milk producers were found to have this industrial poison in the milk. When 22 companies agree on the same protocols, we have a name for that in the scientific literature--STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE.

Its the whole idea of history repeating itself, like the meat packing plants described in Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. Run away capitalism for unheeded and growing companies. A year or two ago it was melamine in the toys and food products, before that it was formaldehyde. I just wonder....Whats next?