[mockingbyrd]

holy crap! That is unbelieveably scary.

[Dallas59]

What percentage did the Chinese formula have?

[Oyarsa]

“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

[autumnraine]

What’s the 10 %???

My granddaughter is just 4 months old!!

[cripplecreek]

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.

[angkor]

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.

[CaptainMorgantown]

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).

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

90 Percent of U.S. Infant Formula May Be Contaminated with Melamine

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...

[Trillian]

Omg 90%. I’m so glad i’m nursing the twins..

[F16Fighter]

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....

God only knows what else the goobermint is hiding from the Sheeple.

[wbill]

Deep Breath here, everyone....

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.

[JenB]

Just another reason I’m praying I don’t have any trouble breastfeeding when my little one gets here.

[RedWhiteBlue]

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).

I would be interested to see what the detectable limit is for melamine. If they can't pick it up until it reaches 1 ppm, and test results on a particular lot of formula are <1 ppm, that's the best they can do. It could be there, but at undetectable levels, or it may not be there at all. The <1ppm limit may be the only practical way that the FDA has to address the problem. If they specified <1 part per billion, that would be better safety-wise, but if there are no test methods that can detect such small amounts, the regulation can't be met.

Breast feed, if at all possible.

[lonestar]

I got this in email--how accurate, I don't have a clue---

The whole world is afraid of China-made "black hearted goods".

Can you differentiate which one is made in Taiwan or China ? If the first 3 digits of the barcode are

690, 691, or 692,

the product is MADE IN CHINA .. 471 is Made in Taiwan .

This is our human right to know, but the government and related department never educate the public, therefore we have to RESCUE ourselves. Nowadays, Chinese businessmen know that consumers do not prefer products "MADE IN CHINA ", so they don't show from which country it is made. However, you may now refer to the barcode, remember if the first 3 digits are 690-692 then it is MADE IN CHINA .

00 - 09 USA & CANADA

30 - 37 FRANCE

40 - 44 GERMANY

49 - JAPAN

50 - UK

[Petronski]

Hmmm. I wonder what percentage of U.S. breast milk supplies are tainted with trace amounts of melamine.

</Snark>