Speaking at a special national teleconference on food safety in
Beijing on Thursday, Vice Premier Wu Yi said, “The blood lesson [of
the Anhui milk powder affair] tells us that we should allow no
bureaucratism and formalism on issues concerning the health and
lives of the general public.”
Wu said that major food safety cases must be investigated
seriously and lawbreakers must be punished sternly according to
law. She also called for a responsibility system to be established
and improved at all levels of government.
Thirteen infants in Fuyang, Anhui Province, died of nutritional
deficiencies from consuming substandard milk powder. Another 171
suffered from malnutrition after being fed milk powder deficient in
protein and other nutrients.
The report had extensive repercussions after it was broadcast on
television April 19. The Anhui provincial government issued an
urgent circular on April 20, calling for immediate rectification of
the milk powder market and severe punishment of those who had
violated the law.
At a State Council meeting held on April 20, Premier Wen Jiabao
ordered that a special team be dispatched immediately to Fuyang to
investigate the situation.
The inspection showed 45 types of substandard milk powder were
sold in retail markets in Fuyang. They were produced by 141
factories in Heilongjiang, Zhejiang, Shandong, Hebei, Hubei and
Jiangxi provinces, Beijing and Shanghai municipalities and the
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The products were sold under 149
brand names.
The police have filed 39 cases and detained 46 people.
According to Fuyang Vice Mayor Ma Mingye, 31 working teams were
dispatched by the local police to Heilongjiang, Zhejiang, Shandong,
Shaanxi, Jiangsu, Fujian and Henan provinces and Beijing
Municipality to investigate the sources of the inferior milk
powder.
Local sources said that families of the victims have been
compensated financially, and the hospitalized infants have been
treated free of charge. Another 49,000 infants under one year old
have received free physical examinations.
(Xinhua News Agency May 14, 2004)