Stewart Parnell, who heads the Peanut Corp. of America, knew there was salmonella in peanuts he sold which killed eight and sickened 600. How is he unlike milk distributors in China who knew their product was poisoned six weeks before they were forced to go public? Even before New Zealand-based dairy giant Fonterra urged China’s Sanlu Group to recall the tainted powder Chinese TV news reporters, in the spring of 2008, fingered the scandal and – as best they could – publicized it. But the roots of the disaster are even older. The manufacturing of melamine, the causative agent for the kidney distress that will follow these children throughout their lives, markedly increased at the start of the decade, the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong reported last September. Someone had to teach the peasant farmers how to mix melamine with formaldehyde so it would bind with the raw milk. SAID REUTERS: “Even after removing large stones, there may still be small stones in the renal tubules in the kidneys, they may cause damage later and overall renal function may be affected,” said Wong Kar-yin, a consultant pediatrician at the Queen Mary Hospital in Hong Kong, told Reuters. “They must be monitored in the long term to ensure that their renal function will not be impaired. Businessman Yang Letong, 34, said his toddler twin daughters had drunk Sunlu products since they were born. “So what if they give us our money back, you can’t give our children their health back,” he said outside the company’s headquarters in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province, south of Beijing. “I am angry,” he said, tears welling in his eyes. “I’m furious.”
Perhaps we should have cried more over spilt milk.
….my rewrite, that become radio news…
CHINA’S TOXIC MILK SCANDAL WIDENED TUESDAY TO INCLUDE ICE CREAM IN HONG KONG AND TWO MORE ARRESTS.
BILL MARCUS REPORTS.
PARENTS LINED UP TUESDAY OUTSIDE SANLU’S HEADQUARTERS DEMANDING EXPLANATIONS AND COMPENSATION.
MEANWHILE, HONG KONG SUPERMARKET CHAIN WELLCOME FOUND MELAMINE IN ICE CREAM PRODUCED BY ANOTHER CHINESE DAIRY – INNER MONGOLIA YILI INDUSTRIAL GROUP.
WELLCOME PULLED THE PRODUCT. YILI’S STOCK DROPPED 6 PERCENT.
AND ANOTHER TWO MEN WERE ARRESTED. ONE REPORTEDLY ADDED MELAMINE TO MILK TO ELIMINATE A STRANGE SMELL.
THE DEATH PENALTY IS POSSIBLE.
DOCTORS NOW SAY THE POISONING COULD EFFECT THE KIDNEYS, IMMUNE AND REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEMS OF BABIES FOR YEARS TO COME.
IN SHANGHAI, BILL MARCUS, FOX NEWS RADIO
Dear Bill Marcus
As a Chinese, I feel very shameful to “Sanlu Event”, toxic asset is torturing US banking system, while toxic milk is torturing Chinese people’s nerve. Irresponsibility, not only from the top management of the companies, to the senior officials of local authority, disappoints me deeply indeed. Mr. Obama, though not quotes his “change” slogan as frequently as he did last summer, really brought some changes to the country, but how come the changing speed is still not impressive in food quality issue in China? Though being a pastoralist, I want to say sorry for my country.
During the email discussion with Ally in the summer of the year 2007, I mentioned quality issue of the “made in China”, from the toys to the clothes, from the food to drinks, are exaggeratedly manipulated by western government to boycott Chinese products so as to balance their current account, i.e. Net Import. Ironically, even during Olympic Game, when the national authority tried their best to boost the quality of everything made in China, the biggest food quality scandal still occurred soon after the Olympics, and I am afraid the image of China was destroyed badly due to such issue.
I don’t think it is simply an economic issue, I am afraid it is the cons of local-traditional thoughts on how to run the business. Of course, business man should put maximize shareholders’ wealth the top, but they also have to take stakeholders’ interest into consideration. I don’t see their conscience.
When many shareholders of state-owned banks criticize Wall Street created toxic assets and heavily-impaired-AAA mortgages, which rapidly decreased the value of the shares hold by them, I think millions of stakeholders influenced by toxic milk will criticize central government, or at least the local government. President Hu and Prime Minster Wen urged harmonized society again and again, but I doubt without quality of “made in China”, it is hard to create a genuine harmonized society.
In the end, I prefer action to words and complaints. Criticism is important, but action is also important. But my question is how to change the society? It is like a giant ship, its inertia is significant and really hard to change it into ideal route overnight. So, as a pragmatist, I will do from micro to macro and little by little.
Cyril
Hong Kong
February 15, 2009