54,000 children sick because of tainted milk

Milk powder laced with the industrial chemical melamine has led to nearly 13,000 Chinese infants being admitted to hospital, 104 in a serious condition with kidney stones and agonizing complications.

China vowed to prevent toxic milk from
reaching processors and export markets after an infant powder scandal
that has made more than 54,000 children sick and mired the nation's
trade reputation in fresh crisis.

China has said it found melamine in
nearly 10 percent of milk and drinking yoghurt samples from three
major dairy companies: Mengniu Dairy Co., the Inner Mongolia Yili
Industrial Group and the Bright Dairy group.

Sun singled out local "milk
stations," which collect fresh milk from farmers and sell it on.
Their operators have been blamed for adding nitrogen-rich melamine to
sub-standard or watered-down milk, fooling quality checks measuring
protein, also rich in nitrogen.

Outside the mainland, only two children
in Hong Kong have so far been stricken by illness blamed on the toxic
Chinese milk powder.