BEIJING, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- China's State Council, or Cabinet, on Friday urges all-out efforts to save babies stricken with tainted baby milk powder, orders to check all dairy products and rectify the dairy industry in an all-round manner.
Medical authorities should provide free examination and treatment for infants who have developed kidney stones after drinking tainted milk, and screening efforts should be beefed up in the countryside and remote areas, according to a circular issued by the State Council.
A woman takes her baby to have medical examinations at a hospital in Nanjing, capital of east China's Nanjing Province, Sept. 19, 2008. Hospitals across China tried their best to treat babies strickened by the tainted baby milk powder and provide medical consultations for paniced parents in the wake of the ongoing tainted baby milk formula scandal. (Xinhua/Sun Can) Photo Gallery>>>
The medical expenses would be temporarily covered by local finance, and later be compensated by the enterprises which were found responsible, read the circular.
The circular also ordered quality supervision authorities to have an all-round check on the dairy products and asked enterprises to recall all the tainted products.
"Local authorities should rectify the dairy industry so as to bring a fundamental change to the dairy market and products." it said.
The State Council then urged efforts to ensure sufficient domestic milk supply and vowed to punish enterprises, monitoring departments and government leaders held accountable for the scandal.
Baby formula tainted with the chemical melamine, which makes the protein content of the milk appearing higher than it actually is, has so far killed four babies and left more than 6,200 infants to develop kidney stones.
Dairy giant Sanlu based in the northern Hebei provincial capital of Shijiazhuang was the first company exposed in the scandal.
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. Full story
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. Full story
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
SHIJIAZHUANG, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Another official in the northern Chinese city of Shijiazhuang has been sacked as a baby formula contamination scandal spreads in the country.
Ji Chuntang was removed from his post as vice secretary of the Shijiazhuang Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Full story
BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- China will adjust its baby formula standards to allow tests of poisonous substances such as melamine, said the country's quality watchdog on Wednesday.
Li Changjiang, head of the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) said melamine tests were not conducted before because it is not allowed in food. Full story
SHIJIAZHUANG, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Police arrested 12 more people in an early morning Hebei Province sweep on Thursday amid an intensifying crackdown involving tainted milk powder that has killed three infants and sickened 6,244 others.
Shi Guizhong, spokesman for the Hebei Provincial Security Department, said 18 suspects have been formally arrested so far. Ten others were detained.
SHIJIAZHUANG, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- The mayor of Shijiazhuang, capital of north China's Hebei Province, was sacked here on Thursday over a tainted milk powder scandal.
The dismissal of Ji Chuntang was made at the local legislature, one day after Ji was removed from his post as vice secretary of the Shijiazhuang Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese inspectors have found the chemical melamine in 69 batches of baby milk powder produced by 22 companies nationwide, the country's quality watchdog said late on Tuesday.
The authorities ordered a halt to the sale of the tainted products which included such well-known brands as Sanlu, Mengniu, Yili and Yashili, among others.
BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- China's Health Ministry pledged free health care for all babies sickened after drinking contaminated formula. It will also send medical experts to local clinics to assist with treatments.
The ministry organized a 34 person team, composed of five pediatricians, seven urologists, 10 nephrologists, or kidney specialists, and 12 ultrasonographers.
SHIJIAZHUANG, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Four local officials in north China's Hebei Province were fired on Tuesday following the baby milk powder scandal across the country.
Zhang Fawang, vice mayor in charge of agricultural production of Hebei provincial capital Shijiazhuang, and Sun Renhu, the city's animal husbandry administration chief, were fired late Tuesday following legal procedures, according to a decision made by the city's legislative body.
