If I might interject a little rational thinking here. The pets weren’t killed by China. I submit that no one knows what killed the pets. The food was thought to be contaminated with rat poison, but that was not proven by subsequent testing. Melamine was found in small quantities,but no reports of the concentration exist. Yes melamine is an, “industrial chemical” but so is salt. Melamine is not a pesticide or hebacide, and it is not particularly toxic. It is not even controlled by the EPA because it has such a low toxicity and is not water soluble.
The LD 50 for melamine, which is the dosage in mice and rats, that kills 50% of the test animals, is ~3,500 mg/kg of body weight. The total gluten in the food wasn’t that much, so the trace contaminant melamine couldn’t have done it.
Sorry for the pet loss, but melamine,used in your Formica counter tops, refrigerator paint and dinnerware, isn’t likely the culprit.
My guess is it is some unidentified toxin from natural sources in the wheat and rice; maybe a fungus product.
Except that melamine is used by unsavory people to up the perceived protein count in foodstuffs. Just recently, will have to dig up the article here, a large amount of bagged melamine was found with bags of wheat gluten that were shipped to us from good ole Red China.