Tainted baby formula kills 4th Chinese infant

SHIJIAZHUANG, China (AP) — Thousands of parents anxious over tainted baby milk powder rushed their infants to hospitals for health checks on Thursday as the government said that a fourth child had died in the scandal that has engulfed one-fifth of the nation’s formula makers.

Twenty percent of Chinese companies that produce milk powder have been found with products tainted by the banned industrial chemical melamine, including the two biggest dairies. More than 6,000 babies have been sickened by the tainted formula.

Melamine, used in plastics, fertilizers and flame retardants, has no nutritional value but is high in nitrogen, making products with it appear higher in protein — a way to cut costs for the manufacturer.

At the Beijing Children’s Hospital, more than 1,000 parents waited for check-ups as they carried their sleeping infants and toddlers. By 2 p.m, doctors had seen only half of the 1,200 who waited in line.

Parents said their children had been drinking three major brands of baby milk powder, all of which have been recalled after government tests found melamine.

In Shijiazhuang, the new chairman and chief executive officer of Sanlu, the dairy company whose milk powder has been linked to all of the known illnesses, apologized at a news conference Thursday.

Zhang Zhenling said he wanted to “express deepest apologies” for the tainted milk powder and for “harm and losses to consumers.” He bowed three times.

This is the second major case in recent years involving baby formula. In 2004, more than 200 Chinese infants suffered malnutrition and at least 12 died after being fed phony formula that contained no nutrients.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the latest death was a baby in the far western region of Xinjiang. However, an official at the No. 2 Agriculture and Production Corps Hospital in Yanqi, Xinjiang, said it was too early to say if the 8-month-old baby died of complications caused by the tainted milk powder.