China milk powder blamed after babies develop breasts

Afp
Sunday 08 August 2010 19:00 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Parents and doctors in central China fear that hormones in milk powder they fed their infant daughters have led the babies to prematurely develop breasts, state media reported Monday.

Medical tests indicated the levels of hormones in three girls, ranging in age from four to 15 months and who were fed the same baby formula, exceeded those of the average adult woman, the China Daily reported.

"The amount of hormones in the babies definitely means there's a problem," Yang Qin, the chief physician in the child care department at the Hubei Maternity and Children's Hospital, was quoted as saying.

"The parents should stop using the formula to feed their children and the powder should be analysed."

Local food safety authorities however refused a parent's request to investigate the formula made by Synutra, based in the eastern city of Qingdao, saying they do not conduct tests at consumers' behest, the report said.

The suspected baby formula was still being sold in the Hubei provincial capital Wuhan - at discounted prices - and was still on store shelves in Beijing despite the concerns which surfaced last month, the Global Times said.

Synutra insisted that its products were safe.

"No man-made 'hormones' or any illegal substances were added during production," it said in a statement.

The infants showed unusually high levels of the hormones estradiol and prolactin, the China Daily said.

Wang Dingmian, the former chairman of the dairy association in the southern province of Guangdong, told the China Daily that the hormones could have entered the food chain when farmers reared the cattle.

"Since a regulation forbidding the use of hormones to cultivate livestock has yet to be drawn up in China, it would be lying to say nobody uses it," Wang was quoted as saying.

Chinese dairy products were recalled worldwide in 2008 after it was revealed that melamine, which is used to make plastics, was widely and illegally added to the products to give the appearance of higher protein.

Melamine was found in the products of 22 Chinese dairy companies in a massive scandal blamed for the deaths of at least six infants and for sickening 300,000 others in China.

dd/sst/je

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in