Up to 5% of Shanghai infants could have kidney stones

From Reuters:

UP TO five per cent of infants in Shanghai could have kidney stones after drinking tainted milk formula, media reported on Friday, as publicity surrounding the scandal was muted by China's manned space launch.

Beijing is battling public alarm and international dismay after thousands of Chinese children were hospitalised, sick from infant milk formula tainted with melamine, a cheap industrial chemical that can be used to cheat quality checks.

'A recent city-wide health check of children under three years old showed about five per cent were diagnosed with symptoms of possible kidney stones after being fed contaminated powdered milk,' the China Daily reported.

The paper did not give an estimate of the number of children who might be affected.

Hans Troedsson, China representative of the World Health Organisation says he expects more babies to die, but a large increase in the toll is not expected.

In other melamine-related news:

• Taiwan's Pizza Hut has pulled grated cheese from all outlets as they were found to have unacceptably high levels of melamine.
• Xinhua reports that the production of White Rabbit candies have been halted for close to a week. Following Singapore's findings of melamine in the candy, Australia, New Zealand and the United States have pulled it off the shelves — and now, even stores in China are following suit. Bad times for the Shanghai company!