I still am scratching my head....so for the last year or so we have been told it was the deadly combo of melamine and cyanuric acid (although where did the CA come from...I haven't really seen that anywhere)
http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/16798
so now we hear melamine is causing kidney stones....   and occasionally they mention renal failure...
so are we really being told the truth? and what is the truth?

http://en.epochtimes.com/n2/china/sanlu-milk-powder-chinese-babies-4275.html


In March 2007 in the U.S., a large number of dogs and cats died from eating pet food imported from two Chinese manufacturers in Jiangsu and Shandong provinces. Soon after, it was revealed that melamine was added in some of wheat protein powders and rice protein powders imported from China. The Chinese regime arrested several Chinese people and coverage about the incident then fell silent.

Mr. Liao Xinbo, vice director of the Health Department in Guangdong, said in his article published Sept. 13, “I think hundreds of millions of Chinese people, without knowing it, have been eating pork, beef and chicken which are fed with melamine-tainted feeds. [They have also been] drinking adult milk powders with the melamine added for many years. Unknowingly, everyone has been contaminated with melamine.”

remember I posted previously that one of the managers of the melamine factories alledged during the pet food disaster had answered his phone when the New york times reporter, David Barboza called recently...refer to what I highlighted in red!  (this was from Pet Food Politics by Marion Nestle!)

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-09/17/content_7032353.htm

China Daily September 17, 2008

"Apart from Hebei-based Sanlu Group, the firms whose products are contaminated include such dairy giants as the Yili and Mengniu groups, both based in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and Shanghai-based Bright Dairy.

"The AQSIQ report, however, said no contamination was found in samples of milk food exported or supplied (exclusively by Yili) to the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic villages.

"The Guangdong-based Yashili Group is the only tainted firm to have exported some products to Bangladesh, Yemen and Myanmar, the report said. But tests on the export batch samples found no melamine.

"All liquid milk packaged after Sept 14 is safe for human consumption, the report said, but it did not give the tests' results before that date.

"The highest concentration of melamine was found in Sanlu products. Tests show every kg of Sanlu milk food contains 2.56 g of melamine, which can make milk appear rich in protein in quality tests. The chemical is usually used to make plates, bowls, mugs and sundry other products, but is banned from being used in the food industry.

"The other tainted products contain between 0.09 mg to 619 mg of melamine per kg.

Two more arrested

"Two more milk dealers were arrested in Hebei late on Monday for allegedly adulterating the products they sold to Sanlu to earn more money, taking the total arrest to four.

"Twenty-two others have been detained for their alleged involvement in the scandal, Shi Guizhong, a spokesman for Hebei provincial public security bureau, said.

"The newly arrested dealers, both in the early 40s, were identified just as Ma and Zhao.

"Ma, a resident of Luquan city, ran a farm in his hometown where some 400 cows gave about 3 tons of milk every day. Last November, Ma bought about 200 kg of melamine, which he used to mix with the fresh milk to artificially raise its "protein" content. Police have seized about 15 kg of melamine from his house.

"Zhao, a native of Jinzhou city, worked as manager of a cattle-breeding farm in Dahe township of Luquan. Police said he bought four bags of melamine, 80 kg in total, to mix it with milk.

"The Centre for Food Safety (FSC) of Hong Kong Tuesday said melamine had been found in an Yili ice bar sample in the special administrative region.

"After testing 27 ice cream and milk samples, the FSC found a Shanghai-manufactured Yili product "Natural Choice Yogurt Flavored Ice Bar with Real Fruit" (90ml) to be contaminated with 15 ppm of melamine. Fifteen ppm means 15 mg in a kg.

""It will not cause huge health risk under normal consumption," a spokesman for the FSC said.

"Chen Junshi, a senior researcher with the National Institute for Nutrition and Food Safety, said the tests show it has been a common practice in the industry to mix melamine with dairy products".

Where have we heard this before? 

All I've seen in the various news reports is melamine brought up.  If someone has any links that show they're looking for other chemicals like cyanuric acid, etc., please share.

My understanding is that after the pet food tragedy here, China passed a law making the addition of melamine to food products illegal.  Never heard that they also outlawed the addition of cyanuric acid.

It's interesting to note that there was no melamine found in the goods for export and those sent to the Olympics--looks like they expected that these would be tested for it but not the domestic products.

http://www.fda.gov/ora/oasis/ora_oasis_viol.html#251

Reason: POISONOUS
Section: 402(a)(1), 801(a)(3); ADULTERATION
Charge: The article appears to contain a poisonous or
deleterious substance which may render it injurious to
health.
     
Reason: POISONOUS
Section: 601(a), 801(a)(3); ADULTERATION
Charge: The cosmetic appears to bear or contain a poisonous
or deleterious substance which may render it injurious to
users under the conditions prescribed in the labeling
thereof, or, under such conditions of use as are customary

They're not really very direct in telling us what was found to gain a label of poisonous.  When we were reading the pet food and various grain/vegetable protein refusals, they were labeled the same way and it was up to us to connect the dots and assume melamine and/or cyanuric acid was found.

Mr. Liao Xinbo, vice director of the Health Department in Guangdong, said in his article published Sept. 13, “I think hundreds of millions of Chinese people, without knowing it, have been eating pork, beef and chicken which are fed with melamine-tainted feeds. [They have also been] drinking adult milk powders with the melamine added for many years. Unknowingly, everyone has been contaminated with melamine.”[/color] So they have been slowly killing the kidneys of these innocent people by doing this for HOW MANY YEARS! I am so utterly beside myself with anger held in check that our poor pets had to be the canaries in the coal mines for this all to come out. How big of a problem with kidney issues do they have there with all these poor people being fed this, arrrrhggghhhg, eating their livestock loaded with it, OMG. Would anyone know if there are any companies here who are availing themselves of this powdered mystery stuff and feeding/putting in the food, etc here? Would there be kidney problems if this weren't in the food-ask yourself that.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=a01qefqeLN1o&refer=asia

The scandal raises questions about the effectiveness of tighter controls China promised after scares over contaminated seafood, toothpaste and pet-food exports. Tainted milk powder was exported to five countries in Asia and Africa, with no shipments to the U.S. or Europe, quality inspection director Li Changjiang said at a briefing today in Beijing.

Kidney Failure

A total of 6,244 infants were taken to clinics on suspicion of being poisoned, of which 1,327 were hospitalized and 158 were found to have kidney failure, Chen said. Most of those affected showed symptoms three to six months after ingesting Sanlu milk powder, Chen said.


kidney failure is completely different than kidney stones that were first reported...

I also question whether the reporting of no shipments to the US or Europe only means
no shipments of contaminated powders directly. That says nothing about shipments
of finished product utilizing melamine contaminated powders, and we all know how
effectively global product shipments are "traced."