Melamine

What You Need to Know about Melamine Poisoning

CAUTION: This article may not be 100% true I copy from an e-mail. Don't click any link below thanks.

~Toma~

China's milk poisoning incidents have made everyone afraid to even look at the daily news report. Almost on a daily basis, these reports are changing and becoming increasingly pronounced. The fact remains that no one can clearly tell us what to eat and not to eat.

1.What really is 'poisoned milk'?

It is milk powder that is mixed with 'MELAMINE.'

What is Melamine use for?

Melamine is an industrial chemical that is used in the production of melawares.

Melamine is also used in the home decoration industry in the form of what the market calls 'US resistant board' (see below).

What all of us really need to understand is actually quite simple - Melamine is predominantly used in industrial production and therefore cannot be humanly consumed!

2.Why did the Chinese add melamine into milk powder and dairy products?

As we all know, the most important nutrient in milk is protein. What is interesting is that melamine also has the same protein that contains 'NITROGEN.'

The Chinese realised that by simple adding melamine into milk, it helps to reduce milk content and since it is cheaper than milk, melamine actually helps to lower capitalisation costs.

The simple truth is that melamine enables many of these Chinese-run businesses greater profitability even if it means endangering the lives of countless throughout the world.

Below is what melamine actually looks like. Don't you think that it can easily be mistaken for milk powder? Furthermore it doesn't have any significant smell to it and therefore melamine is almost impossible to detect under normal conditions.

3.When was it discovered?

As late as year 2007!!

This was when domestic cats and dogs in America began to die suddenly. When that happened, they found that pet foods imported from China had contained traces of melamine, which then led to broader investigations.

Beginning 2008 in China, there were abnormal increases in infant cases of kidney stones.

By August 2008, China's Sanlu Milk Powder was tested and found to contain highly dangerous levels of melamine.

In September 2008, the New Zealand government asked China to check this problem for veracity. By the 21st of the same month, a considerable number of food products in Taiwan were also detected to contain melamine.

4.What happens when Melamine is digested?

Another problem with melamine is that it remains inside the kidney, culminating in stones that dangerously block the ducts. When that happens, pain is eminent and the person will have extreme difficulties urinating, which then will lead to the swelling of his kidneys.

Although surgery can remove the stones, it will nonetheless lead to irreversible kidney damage, which then results in loss of kidney functions. This will necessitate the use of kidney dialysis or in less fortunate cases, leads to death owing to uremia.

What is dialysis?

The fact is dialysis should be called 'blood washing' because it filters out all of the human body's blood via a machine before returning to the body.

The whole dialysis process normally takes four hours and in most cases, a person (under such treatment) does this once every three days for the rest of his life. Below is what a dialysis centre looks like:

Here is a picture of a rather unusually large dialysis centre in China alone:

In a dialysis treatment, a small hole is required in the arm in order to insert the sub-dialysis catheter (see below).

Why is melamine-poisoning more serious in babies?

Melamine poisoning is far deadlier amongst babies because their kidneys are too small to cope and furthermore they drink a lot of milk powder than the average adult.

It might pay to see how melamine poisoning is such a distraught for parents - here is photo of a baby undergoing dialysis:

Right this moment, China has a total of 13,000 infants hospitalised as a result of melamine poisoning.

It is immaterial and irrelevant to talk about how much melamine a human being can consume. The important point is that melamine is NOT for human consumption - a fact that companies like Sanlu have deliberately and knowingly ignored out of commercial expediency.

5.What are the foods to be avoided?

Naturally, any foodstuffs that contain dairy products should be wholly avoided. Here is but a concise list of what they are:

Remember: Foods with creamer or dairy components should be avoided. It is worth your while to read the ingredients or constituents before purchasing.

6.Which companies are affected?

The following below are just some of the companies whose products are directly affected by the detection and presence of melamine. Bear in mind that this list is growing almost on a daily basis.

Reports in Australia even included brands like Cadbury, Kirin, Marsbars and many others directly affected by tainted milk products. Nestlé's have also reported similar incidents.

7.What do I have to do next?

Simple - Avoid buying let alone consuming any of the above foods for at least the next six months regardless.

If you run a snack bar, a restaurant or a café, please refrain from selling dairy products in the meantime.

If you have infants at home, change immediately to mother's milk or try to look for safe substitutes. If unsure, consult your family physician.

Finally, share this information with friends so they will understand the risks of milk poisoning.