FDA sets safe level for infant formula contaminant (melamine)

[UpInArms]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Federal regulators set a safety threshold Friday for the industrial chemical melamine that is greater than the amount of contamination found so far in U.S.-made infant formula.

Food and Drug Administration officials set a threshold of 1 part per million of melamine in formula so long as a related chemical isn't also present. They said they are continuing to analyze the results of tests on 87 samples of infant formula, but of the 74 samples analyzed so far, one had traces of melamine below the new threshold and another had traces of cyanuric acid, a related contaminant. None had both contaminants.

That's key because studies so far show dangerous health effects only when both chemicals are present, said Dr. Stephen Sundlof, FDA's director of food safety.

FDA officials didn't tell the public they had found melamine in U.S.-made infant formula until after The Associated Press published a story Wednesday based on test results obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

Both the safety level and the amount of the chemical found in U.S.-made infant formula are far below the amounts of melamine added to infant formula in China that have been blamed for killing at least three babies and making thousands ill.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081128/ap_on_bi_ge/infant_formula

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this is crap

[CoffeeCat]

1. The headline should read, "FDA wants babies to die."

So, the FDA is "setting a threshold" for melamine levels that is HIGHER "than the amount of contamination found so far in US-made infant formula.

In effect, the people who make infant formula have been put on notice...you can increase the amount of melamine that you would normally
put in formula. The FDA is advertising that they will tolerate higher levels...how grand.

Babies. The most vulnerable and innocent of all of us, and the FDA won't even protect them.

I'd be damned if I'd feed my babies formula.

[Hannah Bell]

34. telling dairyists they can feed their stock cheap contaminated feed, too.

to "boost the assayed protein levels".

[Fovea]

2. This is just so fucked up

Zero tolerance should be the policy for either agent in formula.


Bloody shame it is not a viagra(tm) contaminant. There might be standards then.

[Kceres]

3. At first the FDA was telling consumers that there was no "safe" melamine level..

So now, out of the blue, we are supposed to believe that there is, indeed, a safe limit? You are absolutely correct: this is crap. They just introduced some arbitrary safe level? Give me an f-ing break.

[NOW tense]

4. "What you don't know won't kill you."

The FDA official said. "it is up to us to keep the public uniformed so that no one is allowed to have a free choice in our great free market system."

[UpInArms]

5. that's exactly what they did to the Fairness Doctrine

saying that people wouldn't watch utter bullshit because they would know that it wasn't true - thus, the rise of rightwing hate radio and tv

[NOW tense]

7. Here is a thought

What is the new FDA rules about pet food and melamine?
Are there new rules on foods that adults eat?
Are there new rules for lead in toys?
Why is it that China wanted to put people to death over this and our government just wanted to cover it up?

[Hannah Bell]

32. because - psst - those "chinese" corps? quite a few are backed by us capital.

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. Kick & rec this up...it is vital

:kick:

[aquart]

8. I vote for none.

Tell me, did they choose this "safe" level number the same way the Treasury picked the "really big" number for the bailout?

[UpInArms]

9. related: FDA defends safety of U.S. infant formula (names Nestle formula with melamine)

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE4AR6IH20081128

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration defended the safety of infant formula sold in the United States on Friday despite tests that found the chemical melamine in one brand and a related compound in another.

FDA tests found "very low levels" of the industrial chemical melamine in Nestle's Good Start Supreme with Iron formula, said Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

It also found low levels of cyanuric acid in Mead Johnson's Enfamil Lipil with Iron, Sundlof said. Mead Johnson is a unit of Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Those findings "do not raise public health concerns," Sundlof told a conference call. "The domestic supply of infant formula is safe."

Representatives for Nestle and Bristol-Myers could not immediately be reached for comment.

The FDA earlier this week said it had found one brand of formula containing melamine, a chemical used widely in the production of plastics and fertilizer, but declined to name the company to Reuters.

...more...

[xxqqqzme]

30. I haven't bought anything nestle fo years.

In the early 70s, when the ppm standards actually used, nestle had a bunch of pesticide tainted veggie baby food, way over the ppm standards. Since it could not be sold in the US, they shipped it to developing countries to poison babies where there were no restrictions.

[gravity]

10. That sounds reasonable

[kestrel91316]

11. Biochemistry MATTERS. The important part is:

"None had both contaminants."

In dogs and cats melamine was shown to be toxic only when SIMULTANEOUSLY present with cyanuric acid.

[ebayfool]

20. Kestral - we've mixed BOTH the Enfamil & the Good Start ...

for my new grandson (3 1/2 months old). The combo was what seemed to keep him pooping well. One gave him the shits, the other constipated him. Mixed - balanced out.


My daughter just asked me "What should I do?"

[kirby]

24. This sounds like 'hope', not 'science'...

People can and will consume products that have both and create the combination. This is a case of the sum is greater than the whole of the parts.

[kestrel91316]

29. Of course. But people should be aware of that and then NOT combine products.

None of these adulterants should be in formula or any other food in measurable amounts. We need to DEMAND untainted food. But we stand zero chance of getting it while Bush is still in the White House.

[Hannah Bell]

33. who cares? neither belongs in formula, or the food chain generally.

[PSPS]

12. Why is Nestle and others importing "milk powder" from China to begin with?

This is happening because the formula companies find it "cheaper" to import this crap just to save a few pennies. Never mind that the reduced price is because it's adulterated. Earlier, the cover story was that these poisonous chemicals were present because they were used for "cleaning the equipment," or "from the plastic in the machines." Yeah, sure. Funny how there wasn't any of these chemicals in the formula prior to the scandal in China.

If these killers had their lifeless bodies swinging from lamp posts, the next crop of CEO's would think twice about pulling this crap.

[FreeJG]

13. How nice they set a "safe" level of poison for our babies

This is no longer the United States of America.

Do you all get that yet?

[nahant]

14. melamine

There should be zero parts of melamine in any food, whether for human consumption or for animal consumption! Nada zero nothing, melamine is not a food!

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. Well. The first milk formula that advertises melamine free, will benefit

from this.

[tblue37]

16. UNLESS the government makes it illeal for any company

to test to make sure its product is contaminant free and then advertise it thus.

After all, that's what they do with testing for mad-cow: the US government doesn't allow individual producers to test cattle for mad-cow, because then they could advertise that their cattle were all tested and found clean, and that would put other beef producing companies--the big ones that contribute the most to politicians--at a disadvantage. So the government actually forbids such testing. I don't doubt that the government would do exactly the same thing to protect the major manufacturers of infant formula from the "unfair" competition of guaranteed pure products.

[The Backlash Cometh]

27. Obama can show us he cares about America's health by undoing

the "Great Liberator's" anti-regulation policies. He should start with the mad cow testing.

[Doremus]

17. As if we needed another reminder that we've regressed backwards to the Gilded Age again

Ah, those good old days.

When manufacturers could -- and DID -- market "milk" that was water and chalk. One account I read noted that it was almost impossible to find unadulterated milk anywhere.

Wonder how many babies died then.

[Muttocracy]

18. is there any reason melamine would show up in samples? plastic dishes?

is there *any* reason it would show up other than adulteration or really poor quality control? Melamine is used to make melamine resin dishes and utensils - are those used by commercial food producers or something?

[TankLV]

19. One melamine plate, cup and saucer per person...

the rest must be made of paper...for the daily recommended dose of fiber...

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

21. I have a good safety standard

We stop importing food from China. The Chinese government obviously has no problems with poisoning their own citizens or us.

[BattyDem]

22. Has anyone heard anything about pet food?

If the FDA is allowing a "safe" amount of poison to be given to our infants, I assume they care what happens to our pets even less. :-(

Looks like my schnoodle's getting an early Christmas present - a 100% homemade, dog-food-free diet.

[bitchkitty]

23. Moral of the story -

if at all possible, keep your baby on the titty. Or make your own formula!

[mikelgb]

25. FDA sets DEAD DABY threshold

[Suji to Seoul]

26. Next up: Safe Lead, Arsenic and asbestos amounts in food, with a reversal of the DDT ban!

CAN THESE BUSH FUCKS LEAVE OFFICE ANY FASTER???

[BumRushDaShow]

28. There are already long-time thresholds/action levels for lead, etc.

http://www.foodsafety.gov/~lrd/fdaact.html

What has happened is that thanks to technology, lower and lower levels of many of these substances are now detectable and studies have been carried out to show long-term effects on health.

The fallout from the automated manufacturing and food preservation process (with the advent of pre-packaged/canned products with "additives" that improved shelf life) that exploded after WW II, is what we are now trying to deal with. Our oldest elders lived through a Depression period where there was little or no pre-packaged foods. You went to the butcher for meat, the fish man came down the street with a cart, vegetables were available only in-season, the local small grocer had bags of flour and sugar, and the milk man delivered fresh milk (non-homogenized/pasturized, with cream on top) and butter (hand-churned). Those in the rural areas raised their own chickens for eggs and sold to the public.

The shortages and rationing during WWII prompted the creation of substitutes and long-storage canned items packed in lead-soldered cans that are now sadly killing us. Margarine and shortening were two of those WWII substitutes that gave birth to the trans-fat era using hydrogenated vegetable oil to replace meat or dairy fats.

Our society must now come to terms with "convenience".

[Shallah Kali]

31. Kill 'em slowly so you can make a buck of 'em before they die. 'Safe' levels of dozens of chemical

are ingested daily. Then we wonder why cancer rates keep going up.