China recalls needles that snapped in infant's vein

BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Friday it had recalled a batch of disposable medical needles after one snapped when inserted into an infant's vein, the latest in a string of food and product safety problems.

Health organizations were ordered to stop using the needles, made by a Shanghai-based firm, after tests on another six from the same batch showed they all broke easily, a health ministry statement on the central government website said (www.gov.cn).

The faulty needles follow the recall earlier this week of a hemorrhoid medicine over fears the capsules were to blame for liver problems, and in October of herbal injections after three people who used them died.

China is also still struggling to recover from the widespread addition of an industrial chemical to milk, which killed four children and sickened thousands more, denting the "made in China" brand and alarming consumers at home and abroad.

The incident with the needle was reported by a maternity center in southeastern Guangdong province in mid-October, the official Xinhua agency said, without explaining why nearly a month had elapsed before the problem was made public.

There were no further details on the health of the infant. (Reporting by Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Valerie Lee)