Killers in Kidneys: Commercial Dairy Products
What is Melamine?
Photo credit: Nesh
Photo shows Melamine taken from the laboratory. Melamine is an organic compound which is commonly found as white crystals rich in Nitrogen. Scientifically, Melamine is an organic base and a trime of cyanamide with a 1,3,5-triazine skeleton.
What are the Uses of Melamine?
Photos credit: furniture.net, industrialproduct.ltm
Melamine is used in the manufacture of plastics, adhesives, whiteboards, kitchenware, fertilizer, dish ware, floor tiles, fire retardant fabrics, pesticide, glues, cement admixture and commercial filters.
Now, do you all understand? Melamine is an industrial chemical. It cannot be eaten.
Why Melamine is considered as the best Industrial chemical?
Melamine is often merged with formaldehyde to produce Melamine resin, which is a synthetic polymer. It has a characteristic of fire resistant and heat tolerant, making it a good industrial chemical. Melamine resin is a very versatile material with a highly stable structure. While it is warm, it can be easily molded into a desired shape, and again this property makes it ideally matches with some industrial applications.
Why do food producers prefer to use Melamine in dairy products?
Photo credit: Nesh
As you know, milk powder is made from a solution called milk. Now, let me ask you. What is the important ingredient in the dairy products? Yes, the answer is protein. Melamine is similar to protein as it contains Nitrogen. From its chemical structure as shown above, we know that Melamine is bonded with 6 Nitrogen atoms as indicated by the alphabet of “N”, translating to about 66% of Nitrogen of its mass.
Melamine has been used extensively by the irresponsible food producers in the purpose to disguise low protein levels in their products to boost their profits. Its high nitrogen content is used to usually give off the high protein level readings in food products. As mentioned earlier, Melamine has about 66% Nitrogen by its mass, which is approximately equivalence to 10 to 12% of the typical protein and thus it can cause the protein content of food to appear higher than its true value.
By adding Melamine into dairy and other products, the food producers can reduce their costs significantly. Also, when it is added to food items the Nitrogen can artificially increase protein levels, translating into higher prices.
Photos credit: labtest
Now, I want you to look at this Melamine (left photo) clearly. Is there any different from the milk powder that you bought? As it is odorless, it is not easy to detect and observe for its presence in most food items.
What are Melamine tainted Products?
Photo credit: Simon
Any milk-related products are restricted not to be taken as they may have tainted with Melamine. They include yogurt, pudding, milk product, candy, chocolate, snack, biscuit, cake, ice cream, vegetarian ham, butter, bread, capsule, instant coffee, instant soup, instant cereal, and etc. Below are links to the lists that you should check before consuming certain products to ensure that they are Melamine free.
- List of Melamine tainted products downloadable in English (Source: Center for Food Safety, Hong Kong)
- List of Melamine tainted products downloadable in Korean (Source: FoodNara, Korea)
For your information, here is a list of Chinese dairy products found positive with Melamine, as reported by the Hong Kong Food and Environmental Hygiene Department:
- Natural Choice Yogurt Flavored Ice Bar with Real Fruit
- Nestle Dairy Farm UHT Pure Milk
- Yili Bean Club - Matcha Red Bean Ice Bar
- Yili Bean Club -Red Bean Milk Bar
- Yili High Calcium Low Fat Milk Beverage
- Yili High Calcium Milk
- Yili Prestige Chocliz - Dark Chocolate Bar
- Yili Pure Milk
- Yili Super Bean Red Bean Chestnut Ice Bar
When did people come to realize the danger of Melamine?
In 1953, a scientific study reported that dogs fed with 3% Melamine for as long as one year had the changes in its urine. It was observed to have reduced specific gravity, Melamine crystalluria, increased output, and protein and occult blood in its urine.
Photo credit: Angela
In 2007, Melamine was found in China made animal feeds which caused deaths of dogs and cats in US due to kidney failure.
Photo credit: Kate
In August 2008, the Chinese made milk powder was detected with the presence of Melamine.
Photo credit: Kate
Again in September, 2008, Melamine was found in dairy products of 22 Chinese firms, making thousands of babies sickening and deaths due to the developed of stones in kidneys.
On September 21, 2008, many Taiwan made products were found to contain Melamine.
On September 22, 2008, approximately 53,000 people in China had reported ill, of which 12,800 of them were in hospitalization and 4 babies were reported dead.
“I think we will see more cases, but it is, of course, impossible to predict how many cases there finally will be,” said Hans Troedsson, the World Health Organization’s China representative. “We have to remember that China is a large country with a population of 1.3 billion people. However, of course, 40- to 50,000 children are affected as reported now. It’s a staggering figure, but where we will end up is too early yet to say.”
Why Melamine is Dangerous?
As a wise consumer, we should stop using any products with Melamine added in. Why? Because Melamine can cause kidney stones, indulge and cause urinary tract problems as shown in some clinical experiments. Melamine has been described as being harmful if swallowed, absorbed or inhaled through the skin. In most cases, it can lead to kidney failure and can cause death. However, under the condition of chronic exposure, it may cause cancer or reproductive damage, and can cause irritability around the eyes, skin and respiratory tract. Indigestion of Melamine has been reported to cause reproductive damage, bladder or kidney stone, which will later lead to bladder cancer.
The white crystals of Melamine will deposit in your kidneys forming hard stones. These stones will clog the blood vessels in your kidneys. Kidney stones can cause an extreme pain that beyond the description of words here. People with stones in their kidneys will have problem while passing urine. Their urine could hardly be flowed out. They will feel pain while urinating as their kidneys are swelling.
Photo credit: SinYen
There are more than million of babies in China become the victims of Melamine so far. If you swallow high concentration of Melamine, it will lead to kidney failure and finally it can cause death. In contrary, if you swallow low concentration of Melamine, you will have stones developed in your kidneys and when the stones become bigger, they will block your capillaries in your kidneys and your life can be threatened. It is not a discussion of how much you eat, but even as low as 1 part per million (ppm) of Melamine can be health hazard. So, bear in mind, please do not eat Melamine for your health!
You have seen how Chinese infants suffering from this unmoral and cruel infant milk formula, in which the scene is very sad and appalling indeed. You will definitely have your heart blown out when seeing 52,000 babies infected by the tainted milk scandal struggling for lives and hopes. You have also warned of the potent health risk that is caused by Melamine. So, please do not let your baby be among them!
What are the symptoms of Melamine Poisoning?
- Irritability
- Signs of kidney infection
- Little or no urine
- High blood pressure
- Blood in urine
Note: If you have the symptoms stated, please consult your doctor immediately. A urine test will be carried out to detect the presence of Melamine poisoning.
Why babies are the risk group of Melamine?
Photo credit: SinYen
Why babies are grouped as the most dangerous group of Melamine? This is because their kidneys are very small and some are not fully developed. Furthermore, the babies only feed on milk powder, and thus their kidneys will wear out faster than adults. See how suffering the small baby has to rely on the machine to wash his kidneys. Avoid using Melamine added products to save your kid from being tortured in such a cruel manner!
What are the conditions of Melamine victims?
Photo credit: Kate
The Melamine victims have to rely on the dialysis machine to “wash” their waste products out of their bodies as their kidneys failed to perform the necessary functions to keep them alive.
Photos credit: SinYen
They will have to let the machines wash their kidneys for as long as 4 hours. For chronic kidney failure victims, they have to do this once every three days and the routine practice will continue in this manner until they die.
Photo credit: Simon
It is very pain to undergo this process as the doctor must cut one hole from your arm, so that the needle can be put in to enable the flow of blood into the dialysis machine to cleanse the toxins and waste in the blood.
What are the alternatives of Melamine-enriched Cow Milk?
- Coconut milk
- Soy milk
- Mother’s milk or Breast milk
- Rice milk
- Almond milk
Final Remarks
Stop!!!Say no to Melamine! Please save your kids’, family members’, friends’ and your relatives’ lives from becoming the victims of this deadly Melamine!!! Remember, Melamine does you no good, but spoil your future and life!!!!
With regards to this milk scandal, many foreigners have blamed the Chinese as the “terrorists” to the world. I personally disagree with this statement. We are innocent people in this scandal, so please do not treat “Chinese” as the “scapegoat”. Chinese are not wrong in this milk scandal, and thus Chinese should not be blamed in this manner. Many Chinese babies are suffered and infected because of this milk scandal too. The blame should go to the food producers who have caused many deaths due to their irresponsible actions!!!
