More milk scandal arrests

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SHIJIAZHUANG (China) - POLICE arrested 12 more people on Thursday as China expanded a crackdown in a scandal involving tainted milk powder that has killed four babies and sickened more than 6,200 others.
Mr Shi Guizhong, spokesman for the Hebei provincial police, said the dozen arrests throughout the province on Thursday morning brought the total in custody to 18.

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Six allegedly sold the industrial chemical melamine, while the other 12 were milk suppliers accused of selling contaminated milk.

Mr Shi said Hebei police and government officials were starting 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 also confiscated 300 kilogrammes of suspected chemicals, including 223 kilogrammes of melamine, he said.

In addition to the 18 arrests, 87 people were summoned for questioning and 28 people have been detained, according to Shijiazhuang Vice Mayor Zhang Meizhi.

One suspect, surnamed Su, told police that from February 2007 to July 2008 he bought 200 20-kilogramme sacks of melamine at 200 yuan (S$41.60) each, and sold them all to milk suppliers, Mr Shi told a news conference.

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A transcript of the conference was posted on the Hebei government's website.

Shijiazhuang, Hebei's capital, is the headquarters for Sanlu Group, the dairy company whose milk powder has been linked to most of the illnesses.

Dozens of parents, some cradling babies, lined up on Thursday outside Sanlu's headquarters to get refunds for their purchases of tainted milk powder.

The mood was calm but confusion prevailed as parents traded tips on what products they thought were safe.

A 30-year-old mother who gave only her surname Wang said her 1-year-old daughter seemed healthy but that she was still worried.

The three major milk powder brands that she usually buys - Yili, Mengniu and Sanlu - have all been recalled in the past week.

'Of course as a mother, I was really nervous,' she said. 'Now we have no idea what kind of milk to give the baby. They all have problems.'

The widening crisis has raised questions about the effectiveness of tighter controls China promised after a series of food safety scares in recent years over contaminated seafood, toothpaste and ingredients for pet food.

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Hong Kong newspapers reported that many mainland residents were crossing the border to buy infant milk. Store owners said stocks were running low, but that there has been no panic buying.

China's government has dispatched thousands of inspectors to monitor milk powder producers after health officials reported on Wednesday that the number of babies sickened by tainted formula rose to 6,244.

At least three infants have died and more than 1,300 others, mostly newborns, remain hospitalised with 158 suffering from acute kidney failure, according to Health Minister Chen Zhu.

He said he expected the numbers of affected babies to increase as 'more and more parents take kids to the hospital.'

The head of China's quality control watchdog agency, Li Changjiang, said 5,000 inspectors will be sent out nationwide to monitor companies after government testing showed that 20 per cent of firms producing milk powder had used dairy products containing melamine.

Inspectors will now start testing for melamine in all dairy products, Mr Li said.

It is the second major case in recent years involving baby formula. In 2004, more than 200 Chinese infants suffered malnutrition and at least 12 died after being fed phony formula that contained no nutrients.

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In a sign of the government's concern, Premier Wen Jiabao presided over a meeting Wednesday of China's Cabinet to back plans for a national inspection of milk products, according to a notice on the government's website.

On Wednesday, the country's two largest dairy companies, Mengniu Dairy and Yili Industrial Group were among the companies forced to recall baby formula.

In addition, Guangdong-based Yashili and Qingdao-based Suncare recalled their tainted milk powder, which is exported to five countries in Africa and Asia: Bangladesh, Yemen, Gabon, Burundi and Myanmar.

So far, all the sick infants in China were found to have consumed milk powder produced by Sanlu, Mr Chen said.

Sanlu's general manager, Tian Wenhua, who has been fired, was detained by police, Xinhua said. -- AP