Chinese milk

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AMONG many developments and events relating to the upcoming US election and the turmoil in the global financial markets, the news about thousands of infants across China falling sick following the in-take of toxic milk powder or their being fed on the same drew the global attention. Bangladesh needs to closely scrutinise the quality of imported powdered milk and the so-called infant formula of them.
According to reports, more than 6,000 children in China have fallen ill after drinking the powdered milk containing a chemical used to falsely prop up its protein levels. At least two of the companies accused of this practice were exporting their products to Bangladesh. The government has reacted to the 'scandal' and the commerce ministry has reportedly started working to review whether the baby formula is being 'examined and followed strictly' before import.
Upon the identification of the companies and their production batches by the Chinese authorities, the first responsibility of our government should be to identify the dates and quantities of such powdered milk imported from those companies. If such contaminated milk has indeed been imported to the country, the whole efforts should be geared, on a priority basis, to preventing the sale and distribution of the same, so that the children do not fall victims to such food items.
We do not have the appropriate health-related infrastructural facilities to reveal whether any such imported powdered milk from China has caused death to any of our children. So we need to develop such facilities in order to make timely intervention to ensure that quality standards are strictly enforced at the time of import.

Rafiq Ahmed
Dhanmandi R/A
Dhaka