It is shocking to learn that many Chinese producers of milk and dairy products are mixing toxics and thus producing dairy products adulterated with material like melamine used for making fertilizers and plastics.
Reports suggest at least four infants died in China after consuming the contaminated milk. The adulterated whitener led to several thousands falling sick. It is said that melamine can cause kidney stone and renal failure.
Majority of countries have banned import of Milk and dairy products from China. India also has shown some action in this regard and prohibited the import from China of dairy products including milk and milk products for three months with immediate effect and until further orders. This communique was issued by Directorate General of Foreign Trade through a notification.
It is interesting to note that Government of India has a compartment based thinking and actions. Since the matter was related to Foreign trade, so the Directorate of foreign trade came out and banned the items. However, ministry of health and child welfare is still sleeping and someone need to wake them up from deep slumber, atleast in times of such crisis. Ministry of Health should have asked the Government to recall all Chinese milk & milk products already imported and stocked with stockist and dealers to minimize the damage due to contaminated milk & milk items. Government feels that it has done its bit by banning the items but who is going to control and destroy the stuff which is already imported? Government should have handled this with a simple strategy:
1) Ban all milk & dairy product import from China until the new products pass the test as per Indian standards.
2) Telecast advisory through television or Radio asking the people to discontinue use of Chinese milk or milk product which they may be using.
3) Withdraw all such Chinese food products from the market and destroy them instead of leaving them to stockist who will try their level best to sell off stocked items in areas where people are not not literate.
4) Test other products being imported from China.
5) Conduct spot check for our own such products ( Made in India!) to control our own products.
But our Government has again demonstrated lack of capacity to handle such crisis ( if Government considers this as a crisis at all), poor understanding of the problem and habit of taking only half measures to attack a problem.
I am also surprised with the silence of CSE, UNICEF, CRY and several other NGOs working directly or indirectly for children.
Immature Indian Television media prefers to show nonsense serials spoiling the fabric of Indian culture, traditions and cohesiveness among family members rather than communicating the people about such serious issue.
Comes 14 November and we will celebrate childrens day with all pomp & show forgetting kids who would have succumbed to such contaminated food by that time.
