GUANGZHOU, CHINA — Sweat dripping down his face, Mo Chongjian paced the second floor of Guangzhou Children's Hospital, clutching a medical report and an ultrasound image of his 13-month-old son's kidneys. The scan was pocked with white dots.
"You see here. Both of his kidneys have stones," said the 38-year-old security guard, a short, stocky man with big eyes. "When I think back, I remember that my son couldn't sleep well at night. He always cried a lot, and now I understand that he must have lots of pain in his waist. When I look into his eyes, I feel so guilty. I couldn't protect him."
Anguished, despairing parents crowded the halls of hospitals with their children across China this week after many brands of baby formula were found to be tainted with the industrial chemical melamine.
For many, the news wasn't good.
The government said Thursday that a fourth baby, in the far west Xinjiang region, had died after ingesting powdered milk made by the Sanlu Group, the focus of what has become a national crisis. As of Wednesday, reports showed that more than 6,200 infants were ill, with 158 suffering from acute kidney failure, according to China's health minister. And those numbers were certain to rise as more children are taken to hospitals.
As the crisis rapidly spread, Hong Kong officials Thursday issued a recall of mainland Chinese-produced milk, yogurt and ice cream tainted with melamine. New tests found melamine in liquid milk from China's leading dairy producers, including Mengniu, Yili and Guangming.
The official New China News Agency has said 18 people have been arrested in the scandal.
Officials said the amount of melamine found in the liquid milk products was safe for people and that they were not aware of any illnesses related to them.
Still, the new test results are likely to make many already wary consumers shun Chinese-produced dairy goods. The scandal has prompted widespread anger toward the domestic dairy industry, in which some people are suspected of adding melamine to get a false reading of a higher protein level.
Many people also have lashed out at the government for failing to properly monitor dairy suppliers and waiving tougher inspection practices for some companies, such as Sanlu, purportedly because of the firms' good record.
Various reports indicate that Sanlu, a large state-run producer 43% owned by New Zealand-based Fonterra, knew about the melamine contamination at least a month before the public was alerted.
