China Ordered Coverup Of Tainted Milk

Once again, the Chinese government doesn't disappoint. They engaged in a coverup to hide the fact that tens of thousands of Chinese babies were sickened by baby formula and milk that was purposefully contaminated with melamine in order to show that they had a higher protein content. They had also undercounted the numbers of people affected and I doubt we'll ever learn the full extent of the poisonings.

Senior officials gave the order to Sanlu, the company whose poisoned milk powder is said to be responsible for at least four deaths and illnesses in almost 53,000 infants.

The company, based in Shijiazhuang, met city officials three times to explain the extent of the crisis. Present were local representatives of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, China's national product safety watchdog.

AQSIQ had already carried complaints on its Web site from a doctor concerned about the numbers of children fed with Sanlu milk who were suffering from kidney stones.

Yet despite Sanlu's warnings that its baby formula was contaminated with the chemical melamine, no recall notice was issued to consumers.

The central government had issued orders to suppress "bad news" during the period of the Olympic Games, which were starting that week.

The Chinese purposefully suppressed this news because it coincided with the Olympic games. So much for the openness that the Games was to have provided.

The Communist government did what it always does - look after its own interests rather than the well being of millions of Chinese people who didn't know that they might be poisoning their children by providing them baby formula or milk from these suppliers. They were worried that people might demonstrate against the government if news of the tainted milk and baby formula made headlines.