Posted on 12/01/2008 10:05:47 AM PST by Oyarsa
90 Percent of U.S. Infant Formula May Be Contaminated with Melamine; FDA Abruptly Declares Chemical Safe for Babies Saturday, November 29, 2008 by: Mike Adams, NaturalNews Editor Key concepts: Melamine, Infant formula and The FDA
(NaturalNews) Up to 90 percent of the infant formula sold in the United States may be contaminated with trace amounts of melamine, the toxic chemical linked to kidney damage, according to recent tests. The FDA's test results, which the agency hid from the public and only released after the Associated Press filed a Freedom of Information Act request, showed that Nestle, Mead Johnson and Enfamil infant formula products were all contaminated with melamine.
The AP is also reporting that Abbott Laboratories conducted its own in-house tests that detected trace levels of melamine in its formula products. Together, these infant formula manufacturers make about 90 percent of the infant formula sold in the United States.
Prior to these test results being made public, the FDA had published a document on its website that explained there was no safe level of melamine contamination in infant formula. Specifically, the FDA stated, "FDA is currently unable to establish any level of melamine and melamine-related compounds in infant formula that does not raise public health concerns."
Once tests found melamine in U.S.-made formula products, however, the FDA changed its story. As of today, the FDA has now officially declared melamine to be safe in infant formula as long as the contamination level is less than one part per million (1 ppm).
Astonishingly: The FDA has no new science to justify its abrupt decision declaring melamine to be safe!
(Excerpt) Read more at naturalnews.com ...
holy crap! That is unbelieveably scary.
What percentage did the Chinese formula have?
I read somewhere that the melmine gives the finished product a higher protein reading when tested. “Boobs, the other white milk”
“FDA is currently unable to establish any level of melamine and melamine-related compounds in infant formula that does not raise public health concerns.”
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2008/NEW01895.html
What’s the 10 %???
My granddaughter is just 4 months old!!
Wgen melamine first made news with pet food deaths we were told that the levels were hight but the real problem was in the fact that animals tend to eat the same thing all the time.
That’s all well and good but I now wonder how many other products have melamine in them and does the eating several foods containing the toxin add up.
I ran across articles from last year finding that protein powders made in China also have melamine (soy, whey, albumin). The stories didn’t get much traction, at least in the U.S.
Important to note that ingredients used in “American” food products may have been imported from China.
That is accurate.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-melamine.htm
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE48O2IQ20080925
I heard an FDA spokesman on the news this morning trying to explain away any danger by saying that our food comes into melamine all the time in our homes.
What she didn’t mention that the melamine used in things like countertops is “fixed” meaning that it doesn’t leach into food.
This is an example of a case where our rule-based, litigation-prone beauracracy leads to horrible results. These levels are much lower than the levels in china, but it stands to reason that we don’t want any significant amount of a contaminant in our milk or baby formula supply. The sensible solution is for the FDA to say OK, those levels are not high enough to cause panic in the short term, but the dairy industry needs to hunt down the source of the contamination and eliminate it within the next 90 days. Unfortunately, they don’t have that option. If they declare it harmful, then the dairy industry is faced with recalling all product, consumers are faced with shortages, and tort-liability lawyers will enrich themselves via huge class action suits. If they declare it not harmful, then the problem doesn’t get fixed and it looks like a coverup (which is what has happened).
Sadly, there is a 100% foolproof answer to this dilemma, which none of these career-obsessed yuppie witches would ever pause for so much as a microsecond to consider...
Omg 90%. I’m so glad i’m nursing the twins..
God only knows what else the goobermint is hiding from the Sheeple.
About 300,000 PPM...
This quote from the 'Similac' website...."Abbott has not detected melamine in any of our infant formulas using the US FDA method.
Both Health Canada and Abbott's internal tests are using a more precise testing method -- the most sensitive, rigorous method in the world -- which is capable of detecting very low background levels commonly found in the environment and in foods.
We regularly monitor and test our ingredients used to make our infant formulas including our milk or milk proteins which are not sourced from China. We have not detected any levels of melamine in our ingredients."
One part in a million is background noise - about 2 quarts in an Olympic-Sized Swimming pool. Remember that if you look hard enough for anything, you'll tend to find it.
I have a family member who works for Abbott in this product line and he recently commented to me that Abbott went to great lengths testing to detect any melamine in their formulas or from where their ingredients originated.
He remarked Abbott is very serious in ensuring the best possible quality of their products.
Just another reason I’m praying I don’t have any trouble breastfeeding when my little one gets here.
If people tested the water that they use to wash the baby bottles, I know they'd find far, far worse. That's not going to stop them from washing baby bottles, however.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.