Jordanian blogger Qwaider isn't impressed with the split, calling the start of Eid on two different days as ridiculous:

While almost half the Arab world celebrates Eid on Tuesday, the rest is going to have it on Wednesday! AGAIN!

(Of course this is beyond ridiculous)

It's EID in Qatar, Saudi, UAE, Jordan, Yemen, Lebanon, Palestine and believe it or not, Libya (who claim it's based on Astronomical calculations) [The list is growing (Arabic)]

While the Fiqh Council (FCNA) of Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) have presumptively declared Wednesday as the first day of Eid

Which means, the mosques, cities, states and neighborhoods are going to be divided… Yet again!

Qwaider even draws up a chart showing when Eid is being celebrated where.

Meanwhile, here's a snap shot of celebrations where Eid fell today:

Moroccan High Atlas Mountains News describes the occasion as follows:

For life in the Moroccan High Atlas villages, it will be a day of spending time with your family, before embarking on the start of the walnut harvest. Last year was a good year for walnuts and early indications are that this year will be good as well.

Lower down the olives are being harvested and brought to the olive press.

Sanabis (Bahrain) Daily Photo posts a picture of the mosque where he performed the Eid prayers at 6am.

And from Kuwait, Zuech.ing urges Kuwaiti abroad to make the most out of the event:

Wish all of you guys have a blast and really good time, Specially those abroad don’t waste a second cuz you are coming back to hell !! And for those who are staying in town “try” to enjoy it as I’m trying :P

Writing in Mideast Youth, Iranian Elinor hopes for peace in the region on this occasion. She draws our attention to Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which is also celebrated today:

It seems like happy events in Muslim and Jewish calendars are considering a joint statement: “Make Peace and serve your creator”. Well that is how it comes to my mind. Muslims in ME and all over the world have had one month of fasting and praying, being G-d’s guest while breakfasting, this is how they feel by the sunset. Now it is time for them to celebrate the end of Ramadan and the Jewish people in ME and around the world, they are all around the tables celebrating their New Hebrew year: 5769, praising their Lord and keeping the tradition as families and friends come together to start a new year. As a Middle Eastern I would like to wish the followers of both religions a spiritual and happy time. May peace overflow and embrace the entire region soon.

No more, it seems. On September 5th, news emerged that Osaka-based company Mikasa foods [三笠フーズ] had sold imported rice containing high levels of pesticide residue for domestic human consumption. Intended for glue manufacturing and other industrial purposes, Mikasa sold the rice to companies making rice-based products such as senbei crackers, shōchū liquor and miso paste, with details of the scandal ultimately implicating 380 different companies and reaching as far as hospitals, nursing homes and kindergartens. Immediate fallout includes over a million recalled bottles of shōchū and sake, an estimated 2 billion yen in losses, the resignation of an Agriculture Minister and the suicide of a company president.

TV program aired on September 12th about tainted rice scandal.

So the question is: how did this all happen, and what does it really mean? At Hakushi no Hitorigoto, the minimum import requirement imposed on Japan by the World Trade Organization is cited as a source of the problem of tainted rice:

なぜ、政府が、原産国でも食べない斯様な「事故米」まで、中国、米国、タイ、豪州、ベトナムから輸入するのか。嫌われたくないから輸入するのか。この仕組みに根本的な問題が在りはしないか。これを機に見直しが不可避ではないか。ここで「食用」と偽っての転売が報じられている「事故米」は、ウルグアイラウンド合意で、日本が外国からの購入を義務づけられた「輸入米」（年間計77万トンを上記の国々から購入）の一部（年間計2000トン）だ。

Why does our government import from China, America, Thailand, Australia and Vietnam, going as far as to import things like “jiko rice” [tainted rice/事故米] that would not even be eaten in the country where it is produced? Is it because they don't want to be disliked that they import these things? Isn't there a fundamental problem in this arrangement? Is it not inevitable that this [arrangmenent] be reconsidered? This “jiko rice” that is reported to have been resold as “edible food” is actually one part (2000 tonnes per year) of the “imported rice” (770,000 tonnes per year imported from the countries mentioned above) that Japan was obliged to import from abroad in the Uraguay Round Agreement.

Others questioned the strategy taken in dealing with the scandal. At What a Wonderful World, blogger ozaso_2001 condemns a lack of responsibility in authorities responding so slowly to the discovery of tainted rice:

後々影響を受けていることが判って被害者面をするよりも、少しでも早く回収するなり安全宣言するなりした方が、結局ダメージを小さく抑えることが出来ると思いますよ。対応が遅れると信用を失うことになり、損害がお金だけでは済まなくなる可能性もあります。

Instead of realizing the effects later and acting like victims, I think in the end the damage could be controlled somewhat if they recalled the rice a bit earlier, or issued a declaration vouching for its safety. If response is late, then there may be a loss of trust and there is the potential that more than just money may be lost.

Others wondered about the nature of the toxicity in the tainted rice. While the media focused on the high level of methamidophos, an organophosphorous insecticide, blogger ohira-y argued that aflatoxin B1, a carcinogenic fungus also found in the tainted rice, is actually much more dangerous:

アフラトキシンB1は、カビ毒の一種であり主にナッツや飼料から検出されます。また、日本での規制値は全ての食品に対し10μg/kgです。また、耐容摂取量は設定されていません。厳密には異なるものですが、メタミドホスの一日摂取許容量は 0.004 mg/kg体重/日　でした。耐容摂取量が設定されていないということは、つまり摂取する量はこのぐらい間ではいいよという量を設定できない（少なければ少ないほどよい）ということです。

Aflatoxin B1 is one of the main types of mycotoxin and is detected predominantly in nuts and animal feed. Also, the regulation value in Japan [of aflatoxin B1] for all food commodities is 10 μg/kg. In addition, there has been no tolerable intake level established [for this toxin]. Although strictly-speaking it is something different, the tolerable intake level for methamidophos was set at 0.004 mg/kg of body weight per day. The fact that the tolerable intake level is not set [for aflatoxin B1] means that in fact it is not possible to specify a level at which intake of this toxin is not dangerous (i.e. the less of it the better).

One of the most widely-read [ja] blog entries on the tainted rice incident, however, focused not so much on the rice itself, but on the media's reporting of the scandal. Just as many bloggers in China recently took their media to task over lack of coverage of the poisonous milk power scandal (which has recently hit Japan as well), blogger Chikirin questioned the Japanese media for skipping obvious details in the tainted rice scandal. In a blog entry entitled “Isn't this strange? Reporting on the ‘jiko rice'”, Chikirin highlights three points in particular:

1)“基準の2〜6倍のメタミドホス”の意味

1) Significance of “2 to 6 times the standard level of methamidophos”

こういう報道が多いでしょ。これって“現在の日本の規制基準値の○倍”という意味だと思うのだが、日本は米に関しては特に基準値が厳しいのではないか、という気がするよね。

Seems that there are many reports like this. I guess this means, “X times the current regulation standard in Japan”, but I have the feeling that standards in Japan are particularly strict with respect to rice.

そうだとしても、理由はもちろん食の安全のためだ！ということなのだろうが、実はこういった農薬基準をすんごく厳しくすることは「海外からの輸入を抑制するために非常に有効な方法」のはず。非関税障壁としても意味がある。

I guess people would respond that even if that is so, [these standards] are to keep our food safe! But in fact, having this kind of extremely strict regulations on agricultural chemicals is an extremely effective way to control foreign imports. It's also significant as a non-tariff barrier.

なので、「日本の基準の２倍から６倍の農薬残留量」というのが、「世界の他の国では特になんの問題もない量」なのか、「世界でも大問題の残留量」なのか、というのがまず知りたい。

So what I want to know is, does this “2 to 6 times the Japanese standard for pesticide residue” mean “an amount that is not particularly a problem in other countries of the world”, or “an amount of pesticide residue that would be a huge problem anywhere in the world”?

Chikirin goes on:

その上、「実は日本は米の残留農薬の基準値は世界で一番厳しいが、他の食品についての基準値はすんごくゆるいのだ」となってくれば「なんで米だけそんなに厳しい基準にするんだ？」という話になり、農水省が本当は何をしたいか、よくわかったりもする。

If it turns out that “in fact, Japan's criterion value for pesticide residue on rice is the strictest in the world, but the criterion value for other food items is extremely loose”, then the response would be, “why is the criteria so strict only for rice?” And at that point it becomes very easy to understand what the Ministry of Agriculture is really trying to do.

The next point Chikirin raises regards the amount of tainted rice as a percentage of all rice consumed domestically:

2)普通の米の事故米比率はどの程度なのか？

2) Among ordinary rice, what was the percentage of the tainted rice?

[…]

三笠フーズは事故米を年間2000トンくらい買い集めていたらしい。だとしても80万トンに占める割合は0.25％。これが事故米の全体かどうか、も知りたいし、日本で生産する米の事故米率も知りたいし、他の農産物（野菜）の事故率（基準値以上の農薬残留率）も知りたい。

Mikasa Foods was buying up around 2000 tonnes of tainted rice per year. If that is so, then this only makes up 0.25% of the total 80,000 tonnes. What I want to know is: is this all of the tainted rice, and what is the ratio of tainted rice to the total amount of rice produced in Japan, and what is the rate of tainted [goods] (ratio of pesticides according to the standard criterion) in the case of other agricultural products (vegetables)?

現在この事件により「海外からの輸入米は危ない！」という印象が非常に強く日本人に植え付けられつつある。これは日本の農家の利益を守りたい農水省にとってはとてもラッキーなことだと思う。心より“超うれし〜”と思っているだろう。

As a result of this accident, many Japanese people are being instilled with the extremely strong impression that “imported rice is dangerous!” Seems to me that this is a very lucky turn of events for a Ministry of Agriculture that wants to protect Japanese agricultural profits. They must be thinking to themselves from the bottom of their hearts: “We are so happy〜”

でも、いったいその事故比率が他の米、他の農産物と比べて高いのか、同じなのか、低いのか。それがわからないと「本当に危ないのは何なのか？」わからないじゃん。それとも「事故率」もしくは「不良品率」ってゼロだという前提なのか？？そんな商品は工業商品でさえありえない。ましてや自然商品で不良品率ゼロなんてありえない。

However, is this ratio of tainted rice higher than the rate for other produce? Is it the same? Or is it lower? If you don't know this, then there's no way you can answer the question, “what is it that is really dangerous?” Or is it a premise that the “tainted ratio”, or “defective product ratio” is actually zero?? Producing this standard of goods is not even possible in the manufacturing industry, let alone in the natural products [industry].

The third point Chikirin raises is about how so-called “minimum access rice” is handled in Japan:

3)そもそもミニマムアクセス米の扱いはどーなっていたのか？

3)From the start, what has been going on with the handling of minimum access rice?

[…]

今回の事故米は「農薬残留量が過大、もしくは、カビなどが生えたもの」と報道されているが、もしも輸入した米を売りさばかずにずうっと倉庫においていたらどーなると思います？

The tainted rice in this incident has been described in reports as having “an excessively high level of pesticides, [and of having] mold growing on it”. What do you think happens when, instead of selling it, you put imported rice into storage for a really long time?

[…]

そりゃそーです。食べ物なんだから、一定期間以上放置していれば腐るなりカビが生えるなりする。食べ物を倉庫に何年も放置しとけば問題が起こるのはごく当然なのだから、むしろ「なんでそんなことしてんねん？」ってことのほうが知りたいちきりんです。ミニマムアクセス米はそもそもどういう扱いをされていたのか。これがまずは報道されるべきでない？

That's what happens. This is food, if you leave it for longer than a set period of time, it starts to go bad and grow mold. It's completely natural that if you put food into storage for years problems will arise, so my question is rather: “Why are you doing this kind of thing?” From the start, how is minimum access rice being handled? Shouldn't this first be reported on?

こんなむちゃくちゃな関税をかけて輸入を阻止しているので、「日本は自分が得意なものは輸出しまくるくせに、自分の弱い産業は完全保護なんてずるいだろ？」ということで最低限度の輸入を義務付けられている。それを「日本人に食べさせて味がばれるとまずいから」食べさせないと決めた。そもそも人に食べさせる気がないから、輸入時に農薬でべたべたのお米でも返品もクレーム付けもしない。（輸出国側も“どうせ日本は食べる気ないんだから”って感じだろう。）その上、食べないと決めているから当然余る。で、倉庫に放り込んでおく。そしたらカビが生えました、と。

Because Japan is imposing these kinds of unreasonable tariffs and blocking imports, [people in other countries think: “isn't it dishonest that Japan is exporting like crazy the things that it is good at producing, while completely protecting the industries where it is weak?”, and it is for this reason that Japan is obliged to have a lower limit on imports. It was decided that “if Japanese were allowed to eat this [imported rice] and the taste was recognized, it would be bad news”, so people are not allowed to eat it. From the start, they don't want to allow people to eat [this rice], so even if it is sprinkled with pesticides when it is imported, nobody demands returns and no claims arise. (I guess from the side of the exporting country as well, they must figure that “whatever we do, Japan doesn't like to eat this, so…”) And on top of this, since it is certain that nobody will eat [this rice], surplus naturally starts to pile up. So it's thrown into the storehouse. And then mold starts to grow on it.

日本の農業の産業規模は1兆数千億円くらいです。そしてこの産業に投入されている補助金（税金）の総額が、ほぼ同等の1兆数千億円。産業規模と同じ規模の税金が投入されているということは、農業ってのは「半分、国有産業」なんです。言い換えれば私たち国民が税金で運営している産業、なんです。

Japanese agricultural production is on the order of 1 trillion several hundred billion yen [on the order of 10 billion USD]. The total sum of cash subsidies (from tax money) that is invested in this industry is roughly the same, on the order of 1 trillion yen. The fact that a quantity of tax money of roughly the same scale as the industry itself is being invested means that agriculture is a “half nationalized industry”. Which is to say that this is an industry which we citizens are running with taxpayer money.

だったら「ミニマムアクセス米をどう活用するのか」とかも含め、もっと全体感をもった議論を納税者はするべきではないのか？その判断のために必要な情報を農水省が隠蔽するのは当然としても、それを探り出して白日の下にさらすのは誰の役割なのだ？

If that's the case, then shouldn't taxpayers be making arguments that capture a more complete range of feelings, including the issue of “how to make use of minimum access rice”? Even if it is natural for the Ministry of Agriculture in making this judgment to conceal essential information, whose role is it to dig this up and expose it to the light of day?

議論すべきは末端の役人の焼き鳥屋での接待問題ではないと思う。農水省が三笠フーズを訴えるなんて茶番以外の何ものでもない。もしかして農水省は正義の味方のつもり？

I don't think bureaucrats having business dinners at yakitori-ya is what should be discussed here. The Ministry of Agriculture going after Mikasa Foods is an all-out farce. What, is the Ministry of Agriculture trying to be some kind of crime avenger?

[…]

これまで一生懸命やってきた焼酎メーカーが、だまされて事故米を買ったという罪で（毎日米３合分飲んでも）健康にはなんの問題もない商品を回収に追い込まれ、当然その損失は誰も補填してくれず、加えてNHKの報道をみた大手企業から今後の納入契約を破棄される。そして・・

Shochu makers who have been putting all their effort into their work are driven to recall goods which pose no health problems (even if you drink 3 gō of it every day) for the crime of having been tricked into buying jiko rice. And of course nobody will compensate them for the losses from this, not to mention the fact that large corporations will revoke their supply contracts after seeing the NHK broadcast.

今、公共の電波がやっていることはそういうことなのだ。私たちは本当にそれを望んでいる？

This is the kind of thing that our public airwaves are doing right now. Is this really what we want?

Following I-fan and Bob Chen's posts, here is another update on the public sentiment in China.

Don't buy “Made in China”

William long is outraged by the Internet censorship practice in this crisis and urged: if you really love this country, please don't buy “Made in China”

今天我博客上讨论的关于某某奶粉事件的文章被上面的人要求删除了，我感觉这个企业的公关能力真的很不错，在中国，最佳的企业公关不就是这样吗？把企业的利益和政府的利益捆绑在一起，以政府的行政力量来为企业公关，将网络和舆论上所有不利于自己的信息都删除，这是何等的舆论优势啊。这样，所有不明真相的人们可以继续喝你们制造的奶粉，在不知不觉中走进坟墓了。

Today, I was requested to delete a blog post about the Sanlu milk powder incident. The public relation capacity of this company is really strong, isn't that a model of China best enterprise? To tie the interest of the company with the interest of the government and use the government's administrative power to do the company's PR and delete all the information and opinions that are against the company's interest. Sure they are in a powerful position. Then all those people who don't know the truth will still by your milk powder and walk into the grave.

The blogger then comments ironically:

中国最大的问题就是人太多，特别是有知识、有思想的人太多，如果这些人都死掉的话，中国就没有任何问题了。

The greatest problem in China is that we have too many people who have knowledge and independent thought, if all these people are dead, we don't have anymore problem.

听说这个企业还曾经要花300万去公关百度等门户网站，看来真是小看了它，其实只要花一半的钱去政府进行公关就足够了。

There is hearsay there the enterprise spent 3 million yuans in search engine, it seems that we have underestimated its power, they only need to spend half the amount to push the government's PR machine.

如果你真的爱国，请一定记住，不要购买中国制造的任何产品。

If you are a genuinely patriot, please remember, don't buy any “made in China” product!

Shen Yizhe agrees that for the sake of our future generation, we should be critical of our national products:

再这么下去，海洛因、冰毒的制贩都快失业了，而国家的中长期禁毒斗争将转移到食品加工业。看着新西兰总理用一副不可思议的表情讲述着河北省地方政府试图掩盖毒奶粉事件，并拖延召回三鹿产品后，这时候日本人一定会想起毒饺子，这个到现在都没有结论的无头公案，和毒奶粉同样出自河北。此时，是不是该换日本人抵制中国货了？用韩寒的话说，抵制日货是因为日本人伤害了我们的感情，而支持国货的下场是我们的下一代付出了健康和生命的代价。孰重孰轻，一看便知。

If the situation goes on like this, real drug dealers would probably lose their job and the nation's anti-drug campaign would move to the food industry. When the New Zealand Prime Minister commented on the Hebei province government's intension to cover up the poisonous milk power issue and delay the recall of Sanlu product, his facial expression told us that he felt the whole thing incredible and ridiculous. We must have reminded the Japanese about the poisonous dumpling incident, which the truth hasn't been revealed yet. Both the dumpling and the milk powder come from Hebei province, I guess it is now the Japanese's turn to boycott China product. Using what twocold's expression, “boycotting Japanese product is an expression of our feeling, but the price for supporting our national products is our next generation's health and life.” So which one weights more?

Instead of advocating boycott, Wang Xiaofeng educates the consumers in China by doing some simple mathematics:

其实大家可以好好算算这道算术题，当某一种食品在自然界中的产量很少，但是市场上数量又很多，你可就要小心了，如果不掺假，那是不可能的。尤其是打着“绿色食品”“无公害食品”“有机食品”幌子的，您尽量别碰。牛奶里面无牛奶，果汁里面无果汁……有一天我在超市里看到Tang果珍，配方里的东西跟水果居然无关。你算算吧，橙子的产量是有限的，哪有那么多果肉工人挥霍。我去超市买东西，很多时候耽误在研究包装纸上的配料表上了，很多东西我看着就难受，能不买基本上不买。

Please do the mathematics carefully, when the food is a scarce product in the natural world, but we have abundant of it in the market, you need to be careful. It is rather impossible that they do not add extra substances inside. Don't touch the products which stress “green” or “organic”. There is no real milk in milk, not real fruit in the fruit juice… I once spotted a Tang fruit product, and there isn't any fruit in the ingredient. Please do the calculation. We have very limited oranges in the country, where can we get so many fruit for the mass food industry? When i shop in the supermarket, most of the time i spent is on the ingredient table. I feel very bad and will try to avoid buying these products.

Covering up

Comes Violet（紫罗兰奔你来）got some internal information from Yili's milk station in Inner Mongolia asking the workers in the station to remove all kinds of chemicals such as Hydrogen peroxide and melamine, and destroy all the milk products that contain starch and other chemicals.

The writer urges reporters from all over the country and overseas to go to Inner Mongolia for uncovering the story:

内蒙古的奶站加三聚氰胺是向山西省的奶农们学习的，经验是从山西传过来的，这些东西奶农们都知道，他们说，山西的奶牛根本在品质方面就不是奶牛，但是那里的奶却合格，而内蒙古本地的奶就不合格，最后发现山西那边的奶站就是加了三聚氰胺才合格的，所以现在往奶里掺三聚氰胺，淀粉，双氧水是一个公开的秘密。

The practice of adding melamine comes from Shanxi. Their milk's quality is not as good as inner Mongolia, but milk powder coming from Inner Mongolia could not pass the protein standard. On the other hand, because of melamine, Shanxi's milk managed to pass the test. That's why it is an open secret for the milk station to add melamine, starch and Hydrogen peroxide.

现在主要是没有中央媒体的记者来采访，实际上问一下当地的老百姓，就能找到奶站和奶农，他们就和我说的一致，可惜我当时没有录音，因为我不是记者。

Now the main problem is that we don't have reporters here to interview milk farmers, what they said will be consistence with my information. Unfortunately, I am not a reporter and I haven't recorded the details.

How about Olympic milk product?

Twocold （韓寒）notices the mainstream news reports stressed that milk products for the Olympics are not contaminated:

通过这次事件，我终于认识到，我们真是一个礼仪之邦。你看小日本，把好的留给自己国家，稍差一点的出口。而我们始终是有骨气的国家，就要和小日本反着来，这才是反日。

I finally realize from this incident that our country is really full of courtesy. Look at Japan, they leave their citizens the best product and export the secondary ones overseas. For our country, we are doing the opposite thing. This is really “anti-Japan”.

However, Nickwong doubts whether the Olympic milk products are really safe:

1、如果国家承认奥运会使用或出口奶制品含有三聚氰胺，则将有引发国际丑闻和外交事故的危机，所以即使有，政府也不敢承认，反正都已被人吃掉或扔掉了。（希望能有国外的有心人查过尚未正式闭幕的残奥会）；2、但如果照国家和三鹿的说法，牛奶掺毒仅是不法奶农所为（警方很快抓获疑凶，办其他案也不见这么快过），连三鹿公司1100多项先进的检测程序都没法检验出来，何以肯定奥运会使用的伊利奶制品不含三聚氰胺？

1. If the government admitted that Olympics and export milk products contain melamine, it would become an international scandal and crisis. I don't think they dare to admit that. In any case, the products have been consumed. (I hope that someone could double check the Paralympic Game's milk product). 2. According to Sanlu and the government's explanation, the melamine was added by milk farmers (the police act on that extremely effectively) and escaped the 1,100 quality tests by Sanlu, how can they be so sure that Yili's products at the Olympics do not contain melamine?

The blogger also notices that back in 2007, a milk station manager complains that since 2005 the industry has started adding extra substances in the milk, including some sort of protein powder and fat powder. But his complaint was neglected by Yili.

Who is to wipe the ass?

Heibei government tried to pacify the anger by taking up the medical cost of the sick babies. However, Caodan wonders why Hebei government has to wipe the ass for Sanlu in the incident:

实在是太操蛋了，虽然看起来它是一个非常有爱心的举动。但为什么这份钱由政府来出？政府哪来的钱？还不是纳税人的？但为什么人家纳了这个税，要去让政府帮三鹿擦这个屁股？还是说，政府在给自己擦屁股？但河北政府又说，河北政府在三鹿集团里没有股份。

那么，这是一家企业因自己的产品不合格而导致其消费者受害，理应由他自己来赔偿。而且它还是个营业额高达70亿之多的企业 ，为什么会把这笔帐算在河北政府，即河北纳税人头上？这实在是太令人费解了。

This is f__king ridiculous, it looks as if the government is showing its care for the people. But why should the cost be taking up by the government? Where does the government money come from? Isn't it from all the tax payers? Why let our government to wipe Sanlu's ass with our money? Or the government is actually wiping its own ass? But the Hebei government claimed that they didn't hold any Sanlu's stock.

This enterprise hurts their consumers with its own product, they should pay the compensation. Moreover, its turnover has reached 7 billion yuans, why should Hebei government / tax payer bear the consequence? This is unbelievable!

According to the latest news, several party leaders in the Hebei province have stepped down because of their involvement in the Sanlu milk powder scandal.

Since last year, alerted by a series of products safety accidents, the world has questioned China of its food, toys and even animal feed safety, while the answers, both official and folk, were that Made in China is trustable. But now as the toxic infant formula showed up again in China, killing 2 babies, sickening hundreds more, our trust has painfully drained away, taken place by panic.

It started from 9 Sep, in Gansu province, where press revealed that 14 infants were afflicted by kidney stones, suspected of having had contaminated infant formula.

In the next day, scores more cases were reported, and the victim babies were all found to have milk powder manufactured by one company, the Sanlu Group, a leading Chinese dairy producer.

The situation kept worsening. In 10 Sep, an infant died of the disease. In ten other provinces, kidney-stone babies were reported. In interviews, doctors in different places agreed that they found cases of baby kidney stones abnormally surged in the past a few months.

Fengfeng, 7-month-year-old from Jiangxi province, had milk powder made by Sanlu Group since his birth, and had already suffered from two kidney surgeries due to the stones. Now, his parents found more people sharing the same experience.

However, Sanlu refused to claim its responsibility by stating at 10am, 11 Sep that “the formula is produced strictly at national standard”. It moreover alleged that according to the Gansu province quality check department its products were of good quality, reassuring “their milk power has no problem”.

But the Ministry of Health gave Sanlu the late while fatal strike, just a few hours after the company’s self-explanation, officially warning people to stop taking tainted infant formula by Sanlu. One hour later, turning 180 degree in attitude, Sanlu announced a recall of its products. By estimation, the tainted formula amount to 700 tons. Not until this moment were millions of babies protected from the deadly dairy products.

Too late

Up till now, 16 Sep, 1253 sickened babies were reported, 2 of them died. Panic is spreading. There are over 30 thousand potential victims, predicted from Sanlu’s influence in domestic market.

In a formal statement by Sanlu, it claimed that a chemical called melamine, usually used in plastic production, had been added to the formula by dairy farmers and milk dealers. The purpose of doing so, accordingly, is that the nitrogen-rich chemical could help the milk meet the nitrogen standard which is to test the protein content, after they added water to dilute the milk and gain more profit.

But such a statement came too late, much later than the fact was actually discovered.

猪猡纪 in his blog posted a screen shot, which shows as early as in July, 31, an urology pediatrician has complained on the website of Administration of Quality Supervision, that he doubted infant formula was the cause of kidney stones in babies he had treated. However, his suggestion only got the response ——“Go to find the health department.”

Netizen “zcfonline” further more pointed in BBS that:

三鹿发布召回2008年8月6日以前的产品，为什么现在到了9月12日才发布，并且只是8月6日以前产品。事实这样，三鹿已经获悉毒奶粉造成的危害了，8月6日以后的产品中取消了该三聚氰胺的添加，又是一种不负责任的行为，让祖国的花朵又忍受了一个多月的毒害！
　　三鹿企业理应破产！

Only the products made before 6, Aug were recalled and such a recall is not published until 12, Sep. The fact is, Sanlu has actually discovered the problem long ago and stop using melamine in formula made after 6, Aug. Its late recall poisoned our babies one more month.
It should bankrupt!

What might be devastated is not only one company; made-in-China is undergoing a severe test as well.

Early in March, 2007, U.S FDA has found pet feed killed dogs and cats due to the melamine added to the raw material imported from China. The use of the chemical is exactly the same as this time, but it is not enough to alert Chinese government, though it claimed in 2007 after this event

中国政府打击三聚氰胺取得可喜成果

Administration achieved greatly in rooting out melamine (2007)

The trust on Made-in-China endangered, even in Chinese hearts

In 2007, when Chinese products got attacks due to the lead in toys, and in 2008, Carrefour got boycotted because of the unfriendly treat of torch relay in France, people called on a firm support of domestic products. But today, as 尤大之吻 said

我爱国，但是民族企业自己不争气，让我们无从爱起。

I love my country, but my country’s enterprises were so disappointing that I find nothing to love.

aswlw888 complained

恳求国家质检总局将中国人类食品标准提高到美国狗粮标准

I entreat the Administration of Quality Supervision to enhance the standard of food safety for human in China to that of the pet in U.S.A.

莫之许 in bullog.cn posted a text record of CCTV’s probe into how melamine was added to the milk.

只见他拿着一口大碗，从一个纸箱里舀出白色粉末倒入桶内，水桶里已经有了一些奶白色的液体，还用手仔细将碗里的残留物抹干净，随后这名工人拿着一根钢管用 力搅拌，搅拌的同时还把沾在水桶、钢管和手上的东西一一抹干净，和到水桶里，搅拌均匀后，再将这调好的一桶桶白色液体倒入奶罐中。

….. the journalist saw the worker bowled white powder from a paper box into the barrels, in which some milky liquid was already there. He then wiped out the residue in the bowl, and stirred the barrel with an steel club….. he then poured the barrels of white mixture into the milk tanks.

The white powder is exactly the chemical used to increase the nitrogen content to cheat that there was more protein than it actually had.

The journalist found:

而500多元买来的掺假原料就能勾兑出价值2000多元的牛奶

The adulteration material bought in 500 RMB could make mike sold in over 2000 RMB.

The adulteration, according to the news source, is prevalent among local milk farmers.

Who is to blame?

Now with no doubt Sanlu is the target of fury, even though it tried to exculpate itself, claiming it was also the victim of unlawful milk farmers. But in another GVO post by I-fan, you can see how people argue against it, saying Sanlu deliberately added the chemical.

Blogger Beifeng（北风）also posted a collection of questionable points, pointing Sanlu is likely to be the real murderer.

2.有问题的是700吨奶粉，要数千吨鲜奶原料啊……几家奶农加三聚氰胺能达到这效果？

….. 2. the 700 tons of milk powder need thousands of tons of raw material, and melamine by a few milk farmers could make such a consequence?

3.三聚氰胺是微溶于水！加鲜奶里暂时成为混悬液，放置后应该会有大量沉淀的……

(Milk powder is dried from liquid milk). Melamine is only slightly soluble in water! Adding it to liquid milk would create lot of sediment.(It should be tested out by Sanlu)

10. 假如真的奶农掺了三聚氰胺，那么三鹿的所有奶粉都出问题才是，事实上，只有三鹿最便宜的婴儿奶粉出了问题……

If farmers added melamine then all the products by Sanlu should have problems. But in fact, only the cheapest type, the infant formula were found tainted.

Besides Sanlu Group, the government is also undergoing people’s inquiries. In March, when sickened babies’ parents first appealed the administration to check Sanlu formula, all they got is a guarantee of no problem. And in 2, Sep, the state media CCTV even recommended Sanlu as a shining star of made-in-china, a trustworthy symbol.

Many babies started to take Sanlu formula since their birth due to the brand’s reputation, which means the problematic formula has existed for years. But the shame is that during the course, the authority stood by.

Famous columnist, blogger Lianyue 连岳 said in his post “If Snalu keep standing, the Chinese government would fall”:

3、所有相关职能部门的破产。三鹿不仅牵扯到质检、卫生、工商、食品药品监督等等部门，还有强大的国家宣传机器背书——比如CCTV，三鹿从现在新闻来看，早在07年底就涉毒，从高强的讲话来看，三鹿三月就知道自己产品有毒，这反证了所有职能部门形同虚设，在这么长的时间里，它们没有作为，甚至几天前，还有甘肃的质检部门证明其合格，人们因此得出政府信用破产的结论，是必然的.

It might bring to the bankruptcy of all the related national departments. Sanlu scandal concerns Quality Check, Health, Commercial, and Food Supervision departments, and the national propaganda machine CCTV. Judged from the news, Sanlu has produced tainted formula since last year, and it itself understood this, according to Gaoqiang, the minister of health department.
This shows all the departments were useless craps. It did nothing at all in such a long time. Even a few days ago the provincial department admits Sanlu’s good quality. People could certainly judge from this that the credit of government is no more.

But a netizen 月落鸟不啼 commented ironically:

三鹿不会倒，中国政府也不会倒，光看看汶川地震后的报告吧，学校都处在地震带上这种谎言都编的出口，他们还有什么不敢说的

S

anlu would stand, so will Chinese government. Look at the report published after the Si-chuan earthquake, which says all the collapsed schools were standing on seismic belt, such a ridiculous lie. What else dare they not say?

Or everything would just be like what 空心狂人 said:

这是中国，习惯就好！

This is China. Get used to it, and all will be fine!