Health

China Death Penalty For Poisoned Milk

by Barbara McPherson | October 11, 2008 at 03:04 pm

433 views | 29 Recommendations | 5 comments

Chinese officials have passed a new law providing for severe punishments for adulteration of milk. This comes on the heels of officials addressing WHO saying that the massive additions of melamine to the Chinese milk supply was "accidental".

Until this milk scandal broke on the world stage there were no standards to limit the amount of melamine allowed in dairy milk. Officials in China are scrambling to place blame and to recover the public's confidence in their products which has taken a severe hit.

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) - The death penalty for those who violate food laws: this is the provision of a new Chinese law announced yesterday by the state council. The provision is intended to regulate the dairy industry in particular, which has been rocked by the melamine scandal, and to bring new trust for Chinese products on the world market.

It looks like the bureaucrats are attempting to suppress new information regarding how many have been poisoned as well as stonewalling parents of dead and ill children.

But this stance will not bring the dead children back to their parents, nor will it help to cure those who have been poisoned: more than 53,000 according to the latest figures, although the number could be much higher. The relatives of the victims, however, have been denied their right to seek justice and obtain compensation, while the courts seem to be ignoring the lawsuits filed by some lawyers. "Parents are angry. What they need is justice," says Ji Cheng, a Beijing lawyer who has filed a lawsuit against Sanlu, in the province of Henan.

This scenario has already been seen in the past with SARS, when efforts were made to cover up the scandal, followed by repressive action once the scandal exploded and became public knowledge. Then, like today, this generated significant concerns about China's integrity.

For a comprehensive listing of contaminated products look on Now Public's Health Catagory under the Tag Milk Scandal.

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Amy Judd

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 15:32 on October 11th, 2008

Barbara McPherson, I suppose they had to do something.

Barry Artiste

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 16:12 on October 11th, 2008

Barbara McPherson, I like this story. It's good stuff. Yep, though it doesn't seem fair kill a few for killing thousands, I am sure some parents of dead children perhaps would want some personal payback with a slow death to those who profited from this killing of babies.

HellaD

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 20:57 on October 11th, 2008

Barbara McPherson, I like this story. It's good stuff.

LotusFlower

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 22:24 on October 11th, 2008

Barbara McPherson, I like this story. It's good stuff. The Death Penalty - most countries have because of their sign up to the human rights declaration got rid of the death penalty - the USA still has it and China as a state that respects human rights very little has it - this will not stop corporate manslaughter of this kind going on because huge corporations with household names here in West are the ones really to blame and our governments don't like to take the whole of the cream from their fat cat backers or potential backers. Yes the Chinese had to do something but the death penalty - countries that use the death penalty say more about themselves in the act than about those that they kill. I'd like to see the death penalty got rid of everywhere.