Yasiin Mugerwa
6 October 2008
Members of Parliament have demanded that the government institutes a query team to ensure that the deadly Chinese powder milk is not being consumed in the country.
A host of MPs led by Bunyole MP Emmanuel Dombo on Thursday demanded that the Ministry of Health takes lead role to block any consumption of suspected counterfeit Chinese products in Uganda as the case is with other countries.
"Madam Speaker, we are in danger," Mr Dombo said. "We have been observing in the international media that there is a brand of powder milk, which had been contaminated in China and which has resulted into the recalling of the product in many countries." China has been at the heart of the milk crisis which has left at least four Chinese babies dead and another 53,000 in critical condition.
On Saturday, Chinese media reported that even the animals at Hangzhou Zoo in China have also developed kidney stones after feeding on Sanlu Group milk powder tainted with the industrial chemical melamine.
The Uganda National Bureau of Standards has already blacklisted all milk imports that contain Chinese dairy derivatives. The dairy firm at the centre of this crisis is a Chinese company called sunlu and the milk powder products apparently tainted include Yashili Infant Formula Milk, Yashili Followup Infant Formula Milk and Gain School Advance.
At Parliament, MPs heard that to mitigate the crisis, toxic Chinese milk and other related products such as chocolate, which are made from powder milk, have recently been banned in Kenya.
Given that China and Kenya are one of the country's major trading partners, Ugandans stand a risk of consuming tainted milk, either directly or by way of importing related products like chocolate, which were recently recalled in Taiwan, Russia and other countries in which they were manufactured.
The Health Minister, Dr Stephen Mallinga said, "When the issue of toxic milk came up, we inquired if Uganda imports milk from China and the information we got is that we don't. As for chocolate, I am not sure but I will investigate." "We want to know the type of milk or chocolate because our people could be in danger," the Deputy speaker, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, said
Parliamentarians needed to know if Ugandans must stop consuming chocolate insisting that the country could easily be heading for a catastrophe without knowing. Melamine, an industrial chemical used in making plastics, was found in a growing range of Chinese dairy products.
"This Chinese milk should be investigated, if Kenyans and other developed countries have reacted, what is our government waiting for?" Arua Municipality MP Akbar Godi questioned. "We cannot wait to lose babies; we need to protect our people from this deadly milk before it's too late." Meanwhile, other countries across Asia have recalled a variety of milk products and investigation teams instituted to mitigate any impending catastrophe.
However, Dr Mallinga added, "We have been on the look out for children who have died in the hospitals to know if any of them have died of a disease similar to that of the children in China, that is, kidney failure. So far, we have not had a child dying of the condition and we do not have an upsurge of kidney failure in the hospitals."
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Monitor. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
