BEIJING, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- China's Health Ministry announced on Friday it had opened a second national hotline for panicked parents to have medical consultation in the wake of the ongoing tainted baby milk formula scandal.

    The public health service number -- 021-12320 -- in Shanghai is manned by experts who provide advice on how to appropriately treat babies stricken by the tainted baby milk powder.

    The hotline follows the first round-the-clock service opened in Beijing on Wednesday. It was providing people with information on treatment and had partially met the demands of parents, a ministry source said, without elaborating on how many had used the service.

    Six provinces had also opened regional hotlines, including Hebei, Qinghai, Jiangsu, Shandong, Jilin and Fujian.

    On Friday, the ministry asked the rest of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities to organize experts and set up hotlines for local residents.

    More than 6,200 infants developed kidney stones after drinking a baby formula tainted with melamine. The chemical, which was added illegally, makes the protein content of milk appear higher than it actually is.

    The formula has so far killed four infants.

    Dairy giant Sanlu based in the northern Hebei provincial capital of Shijiazhuang was the first company exposed in the scandal.

China's cabinet abolishes regulation on inspection exemptions for food

    BEIJING, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- China's State Council, or the cabinet, on Thursday announced the abolishment of regulations on inspection exemptions for food.

    In a circular distributed to ministries and governments at all levels, the cabinet said that it had decided to abolish the regulations relating to quality inspection exemptions for food in a document issued on Dec. 5, 1999.

Quality watchdog cancels inspection exemptions for food producers 

A doctor gives medical examination to a child with kidney diseases at the Gansu Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital in Lanzhou, capital of northwest China's Gansu Province, Sept. 18, 2008. (Xinhua/Liu Quanlong) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- In the wake of the contaminated baby milk powder scandal, Chinese quality watchdog on Wednesday cancelled all kinds of national inspection exemptions previously given to food producers.

    "Considering the particular characteristics of food products and the complexity in the cause of food safety problems, and with a view to further enhancing supervision over food producers, ensuring food safety and protecting consumers' interests," said the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) in an explanation of the move. 

China's cabinet orders inspections, reform of dairy industry

    BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- An executive meeting of the State Council (cabinet), presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao, on Wednesday decided to launch national comprehensive tests of dairy products and reform the dairy industry.

    According to the meeting, the incident involving the tainted Sanlu milk powder reflected chaotic industry conditions, as well as loopholes in the supervision and management of the industry. Full story