Toxic baby milk shocks China

In China's latest food scare 6,000 babies have been poisoned and three babies have died from drinking baby milk tainted by the industrial chemical melamine.

The incident has sent shock waves across the country where 14 people have now been arrested over the scandal and authorities are concerned that more infants will be affected.

Melamine is a chemical used in plastics and officials say they suspect it was added to milk and then sold to companies that produced infant formula to possibly give the milk the appearance of being higher in protein.

Health officials say that 6,244 babies are now sick, with 158 suffering from acute kidney failure and another baby in the eastern Zhejiang province has reportedly become the latest victim.

Melamine is rich in nitrogen and used to measure protein, so it can be used to disguise diluted milk - ingestion can cause kidney stones and other organ problems.

It is thought that more than 1,300 infants remain in hospital and many baby food producers are affected and have been forced to recall products sold across the country which were tainted with melamine.

The contamination was first traced back to the Sanlu group, a dairy producer partly owned by the New Zealand company Fonterra Co-operative Group who last week revealed its milk powder contained melamine, which is banned in food.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said this week that Chinese officials acted last week only after her government put pressure on Beijing.

Further investigations revealed a fifth of 109 Chinese dairy producers made products had been contaminated with the substance.

Mengniu, the Guangdong-based Yashili and Qingdao-based Suncare, are now also recalling their products after melamine was found in their milk powder.

Yashili and Suncare export their products to Bangladesh, Yemen, Gabon, Burundi and Burma, and the two dairy producers are recalling exports to those countries.

One batch out of 35 produced by Olympic sponsor Yili Industrial also tested positive for the melamine but authorities say dairy products supplied to the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics were free of the chemical.

However suspicions prevail that the poisonings were concealed from the public and senior authorities during the Beijing Olympics in August.

The mounting toxic milk scandal, in which the government has denounced the dairy industry as chaotic, follows a series of scares including lead-tainted toys, toxic pet food, contaminated toothpaste and dumplings and the Chinese public have become dismayed and anxious.