ANITA CHANG, SHIJIAZHUANG
Thousands of Chinese parents streamed into hospitals yesterday for health checks of infants as a scandal involving tainted milk powder claimed a fourth victim.
In Hong Kong, the government recalled a dairy's products after tests found the banned industrial chemical melamine. Food safety controller Constance Chan said officials were recalling milk, yoghurt, ice cream and other products of Yili Industrial Group, one of the firms forced to recall baby formula in China.
Chan says the government found melamine in eight of 30 sample products tested by regulators in Hong Kong. The products include milk.
Police in Hebei province arrested 12 more people, bringing the total to 18. Shi Guizhong, a police spokesman, said six allegedly sold melamine, while the other 12 were milk suppliers accused of adding the chemical.
The government in Xinjiang region announced one person had died after consuming tainted milk powder. It did not say if the victim was a baby. The other three deaths were infants.
The official Xinhua news agency said the latest death was a baby, but an official at a hospital in Yanqi said it was too early to say if the eight-month-old boy died of complications caused by the tainted milk powder. Zhou Xiyuan said the boy died a month ago, and it was not known if he had kidney stones like the other infants who died.
Hebei police and government officials launched a 10-day campaign to focus on melamine contamination. Suppliers to the dairy companies are believed to have added the banned chemical, normally used in plastics, to watered-down milk to make it appear higher in protein.
Police confiscated 660lb of suspected chemicals, including 490lb of melamine.
More than 1000 parents crowded into the waiting room at the Beijing Children's Hospital yesterday, carrying sleeping infants and toddlers. By 2pm, doctors had seen only half of the 1200 waiting.
Parents said their children had all been drinking three brands of baby milk powder which have been recalled.
Fang Sunyi, 28, holding her three-month-old son, said he had been fed Sanlu and Yashili since birth. "I'm just praying there's nothing wrong with my son," she said. "We don't know what's safe any more and we don't want to take any chances."
In Shijiazhuang, Hebei's capital, the new chairman of Sanlu Group, the firm whose milk powder has been linked to all the known illnesses, apologised at a news conference.
Zhang Zhenling said he wanted to "express deepest apologies" for the tainted milk powder and for "harm and losses to consumers".
His predecessor was sacked earlier this week and has been detained by police.
Dozens of parents, some cradling babies, queued outside Sanlu's offices for refunds of milk powder.The widening crisis has raised questions about the effectiveness of tighter controls China promised after a series of food safety scares over contaminated seafood, toothpaste and ingredients for pet food.
Hong Kong newspapers reported that many mainland residents were crossing the border into the territory to buy infant milk. China's government has sent 5000 inspectors to monitor milk powder producers after officials reported the number of babies made ill by tainted formula had risen to 6244. More than 1300 babies, mostly newborns, remain in hospital, with 158 suffering kidney failure.It is the second Chinese case in recent years involving baby formula. In 2004, more than 200 infants had malnutrition and at least 12 died after being fed fake formula.-AP
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