A SECOND child has died from eating contaminated milk powder in China, health officials said yesterday, while 1,253 infants have fallen ill from the tainted formula.
The New Zealand government has accused manufacturers and local officials of trying to cover up the news and of failing to act, while officials in Beijing believe the supply of milk for the formula was sabotaged.
"As many as 10,000 infants may have drunk the contaminated Sanlu milk powder," deputy health minister Ma Shaowei told a news conference.
Mr Ma said 340 children remained in hospital, 53 in a serious condition. The two dead children were in northwest China's Gansu province.
As well as causing a domestic health scare, the scandal is generating unwelcome headlines about Chinese product safety.
The contaminated milk powder was sold by Sanlu Group, China's biggest milk powder producer, which is part-owned by New Zealand dairy giant, Fonterra Co-op.
Chinese health officials have launched a nationwide inspection of dairies and the ministry believes the contamination happened at milk-collecting stations.
The milk may have been diluted with water and melamine added to make its protein level appear higher than it really was.
Melamine, used in making plastics and high in nitrogen, was linked to the deaths and illness of thousands of cats and dogs in the US last year after it was added to pet food ingredients exported from China. The chemical can trigger the formation of kidney stones.
Police in Hebei arrested two brothers surnamed Geng for allegedly adding melamine to the three tonnes of milk they sold on from farmers daily.
"Geng did so because he suffered losses after milk from his station had been rejected by Sanlu Group," the police said.
New Zealand's prime minister, Helen Clark, said she ordered that senior Chinese officials in Beijing be told about the tainted milk problem because local officials had stalled calls for a full recall of the infant formula. In its defence, the Chinese health ministry said it had detained 19 people in its investigation into the country's latest product disaster.
The 19 people who have been detained are from private milk- collecting stations, it was reported in the China Daily.
Reports suggest that most of the babies affected by the contaminated baby powder are from remote rural areas.
In 2004, at least 13 babies died in the eastern province of Anhui after drinking fake milk powder that had no nutrition.