China's tainted-milk scandal spreads

BEIJING — A scandal over tainted infant formula spread Monday as authorities acknowledged as many as 10,000 babies may have ingested milk powder laced with the same chemical found in contaminated pet-food exports last year that caused scores of U.S. animals to die.

Chinese police arrested two brothers in Hebei province, home of the state-owned Sanlu Group, one of the nation's largest dairy companies, that sold the contaminated product.

Officials have seized or recalled more than 10,000 tons of Sanlu formula and have ordered a nationwide inspection of fresh milk and cow feedstuff.

Melamine, a chemical in making plastics and fertilizers, has been used by Chinese businesses to boost protein readings in animal feed and other food products.

Pet foods containing melamine-laced ingredients traced to China sickened and killed thousands of dogs and cats in the U.S. last year.

Many infants who were fed Sanlu milk powder were stricken with kidney stones. So far, 1,253 babies have become ill and 340 of them are in the hospital, with 53 of them in serious condition, said Health Ministry spokesman Ma Xiaowei.

He acknowledged two infants died in Gansu Province, a poor, dusty region in the nation's arid northwest.

"As many as 10,000 infants may have drunk the contaminated Sanlu infant formula," Ma said.

None of Sanlu's infant formula is believed to have been exported to North America.

The official New China News Agency, quoting a police spokesman in Hebei, said two brothers surnamed Geng had been running a private milk-collecting station since May 2004.

The 48-year-old older brother had begun to put melamine into milk at the end of last year, and the younger brother sent the milk to Sanlu, the news agency reported. The brothers were among 19 people detained.

Earlier Chinese media reports said Sanlu had received complaints about its formula since March but had delayed reporting the problem to the government or issuing a public alert. Sanlu's vice president, Zhang Zhenling, read a letter of apology at a news briefing Monday in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province. "We feel really sad about this," he was quoted as saying.

Sanlu is 43 percent owned by the New Zealand-based dairy giant Fonterra, which said it first learned of the problem Aug. 2.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said Monday that Fonterra tried unsuccessfully to get local Chinese authorities to order a full recall as soon as possible.

The delay in halting sales of the milk powder added to the anger and frustrations of Chinese consumers, many of whom have come to mistrust the quality of their foods.

In 2004, baby formula missing key ingredients left at least 13 infants dead and hundreds ill from what local residents called "big head disease."