China toxic milk victims seen to rise by 10,000

By Chris Buckley

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese provinces have reported nearly 10,000 additional cases of children who have developed kidney illnesses after drinking toxic milk formula in recent days, local media reported on Friday.

The problem was confirmed to have spread to neighboring Japan on Friday, when Marudai Food Co. said melamine had been found in some of its recalled products made with Chinese milk, including "Cream Panda" buns, which appeal to children.

Beijing continues to battle public alarm and international dismay after thousands of Chinese children were hospitalized, sick from milk formula tainted with melamine, a cheap industrial chemical that can be used to cheat quality checks. Four have died.

In Hong Kong, Heinz, the world's largest ketchup maker, recalled a batch of baby food due to trace levels of melamine.

Heinz said it was recalling one batch of only one variety of baby food as a precautionary measure and no other Heinz products were affected. Heinz's recalled product was made in China for distribution in China only, a company spokesman said.

Hong Kong's Center for Food Safety said apart from the Heinz product, a batch of crackers from another brand had been found to contain trace elements of melamine and shops had been asked to stop selling the products.

But in China, attention to the growing milk scandal was at least temporarily diverted to the launch late on Thursday of the country's third manned space mission, set to include this weekend the technologically ambitious nation's first space walk.

China's Ministry of Health has not issued a fresh count of infants suffering kidney problems and complications since Sunday.

It said then that 12,892 were in hospital, 104 with serious illness, and close to 40,000 others were affected but did not need major treatment.

More recent counts from province-level health authority numbers across China showed at least another 9,959 cases have been diagnosed this week with illnesses linked to the toxic milk.

Much of that rise was in Hebei, the northern province that is home to Sanlu Dairy group, which made the contaminated formula that sparked the broader milk scandal.

The Hebei Daily (hbrb.hebnews.cn) said Hebei province alone had diagnosed 13,773 cases up to Thursday, an increase of 4,794 on four days earlier.

Shao Mingli, head of the State Food and Drug Administration, warned his staff the government would not tolerate cover-ups or reporting delays, after local officials sat on news for at least a month -- if not longer -- that Sanlu's milk was suspect.

"Under no circumstances turn a deaf ear to people's complaints and pretend they do not exist," he told a meeting, according to the transcript of a speech on the watchdog's website (www.sda.gov.cn).

CONTAMINATED POWDER