Guess that's the problem. No one knows those levels. No one is going to voluntarily subject themselves or their children to scientific studies to find out. And countries everywhere continue to import this tainted cwrap. (I just became 21 -- sorry, I have a big mouth I guess or am really angry)

Anyway, if anyone wants to help organize some of the chaotic info in this thread since September 11,  please PM me, and thank you.

YL

Well sort of. If melamine is excreted through the urine, then it becomes mixed with uric acid, which then may make it more dangerous than it was to begin with. This may be a key element here. If a cow (for sake of example) eats some tainted grass and then urinated it out, onto the ground and then next year eats in the same area, it is now more toxic than the first year because it is mixed with uric acid and now will start to stay in the tissues longer. Then the third year would be worse, of course the original melamine is now at half life but the new compound, melamine/uric acid, it not studied for half life.

I can see a vicious circle here, cumulative effects occurring by ingesting the melamine and then passing it through the body, then creating something more toxic, etc, etc.

the FDA had said it over and over, and then will backtrack, but they continue to say, melamine does not belong in food, period.

Maybe this is one of the unreported side effects, unknown side effects of melamine ingestion.

db

We've been eating this s--t since the 70's ! What the h--l is wrong with our goverment !No wonder so many pets & pweople have kidney & liver problrms & diabetes.

This site has a lot of information on cyromazine and its residues on crops and in animals and different types of soil.  Countries using cyromazine are also listed with approved crops and residue levels.  The melamine aspect was not as well documented.  Maybe it should be now, this is well worth looking over, residues and toxicity tests are listed.  And as mentioned by db and others, I'm not sure what happens beyond the testing period as melamine and cyromazine accumulate in the soil:

http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPP/Pesticid/JMPR/Download/2007_eva/Cyromazine.pdf

Definition of the residue

In 1990, the JMPR defined the residue for cyromazine in food as cyromazine. At the 1992 JMPR, the
possibility of including melamine in the definition was discussed, but the Meeting decided to maintain
the previous definition as melamine was considered to be less toxic than cyromazine, and that
melamine may have originated from sources other than from the use of cyromazine. Nevertheless the
Meeting recognized that the monitoring of good agricultural practice in growing mushrooms under
certain conditions was not possible when melamine was omitted from the residue definition.
Data submitted to the present Meeting have shown that melamine is the main metabolite
found in all crops and most animal products. Cyromazine is the major compound found in all crops,
with the exception of mushroom, where melamine can be present at levels higher than cyromazine.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I believe the listed residual levels would also be dependent on the ratio in the spray as the tested rate is listed.  If cyromazine is sprayed at a higher ratio or more often, I bet the residues would increase.  The accumulation in the soil would most likely affect plant uptake as well.   I will reread the info, but am not sure if that issue was addressed and explored.

Probably & then turn around & use the waste from them including urine. Yum !

http://www.chicagotribune.com:80/news/chi-ap-wi-mathison-qampa,0,2060475.story
Dairy security specialist aims to prevent disaster
By M.L. JOHNSON | Associated Press Writer 12:00 AM CDT, October 5, 2008
MADISON, Wis. - The spread of disease -- accidentally or intentionally -- through the nation's livestock could cripple dairy and meat producers and create a severe food shortage.
To prevent such a catastrophe, federal and state officials have been working with farmers to improve safeguards and emergency plans.
Matt Mathison is helping lead the effort as chairman of the Wisconsin Agro-Security Resource Network and a member of the FBI Agro-Security Team of Wisconsin ...

Mathison: The U.S. food supply is highly regulated and very inspection-oriented. We know that has created a very safe food supply historically, and continues. The food grown outside the country has varying levels of regulatory and inspection oversight. There is some inspection at the border as it comes in, but that food supply may not be held to the same inspection and regulatory standard as the U.S. products

Twice in two years, 2007 with companion animals and 2008 with China's children, through the little understood mechanism of melamine degradation, the US food supply has been subject to lethal threat on a massive scale. Apparently there is so much of this adulterant in the global food supply, it only takes minimal addition by unknown suppliers in the global food chain to tip the scale causing illness and death among animals and human beings.

The time to argue about how melamine causes the phenomenon is a subject for future study. The time to stop the spread of melamine
adulteration was March of 2007. And China in September of 2008 proves it hasn't been done. The US government is failng the US consumer
by not acting right now.

This is a load of unspeakable d*ng:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i1PW8Su6EECm-m22gV1dABkLdHJQD93KA1V80
China says new tests show milk free from melamine
4 hours ago (October 5, 2008)
BEIJING (AP) — China's food safety watchdog said Sunday no traces of the industrial chemical melamine were found in new tests of milk powder sold domestically, as officials sought to restore public trust in milk supplies.

Every other food safety authority in the entire world agrees there would be trace levels of melamine from production processes and packaging alone.
This food source, China, does not know how to tell the truth.

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com:80/healthlawprof_blog/2008/10/fda-sets-safety.html

FDA Sets Safety Threshold for Contaminant Melamine October 4, 2008
The FDA guidelines were issued to help federal and state investigators checking for contaminated Chinese products as they enter the country and in Asian grocery stores. Sundlof said the agency's goal is to identify products with potentially dangerous levels of melamine, rather than to find each small instance of contamination.

But Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), head of a House subcommittee that oversees FDA funding, criticized the agency for saying there could be safe levels of melamine in foods.

"While other countries throughout the world, including the European Union, are acting to ban melamine-contaminated products from China, the FDA has chosen to establish an acceptable level for melamine in food in an attempt to convince consumers that it is not harmful," DeLauro said in a statement. "Not only is this is an insult to consumers, but it would appear that the FDA is condoning the intentional contamination of foods."