Six more arrested over toxic milk scam

Beijing: China arrested six more people yesterday for their role in supplying contaminated milk to the country's dairy companies, as the health ministry said more than 3,600 Chinese children remain hospitalised after consuming compromised products.

The six suspects, who worked in the major dairy-producing region of Inner Mongolia, either sold melamine to milk suppliers or added the industrial chemical to milk themselves, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Melamine, used in plastics and fertiliser, can cause kidney stones and lead to kidney failure in larger doses. A total of 3,654 children remain sick, with three in serious condition, the Health Ministry said in a notice on its website late on Wednesday.

Authorities say middlemen apparently added melamine to milk they collected from farmers to sell to large dairy companies. The suppliers are accused of watering down the milk and then adding the nitrogen-rich chemical to make the milk seem higher in protein when tested. Protein tests often simply measure nitrogen levels.

As of Wednesday, 46,717 children had been treated and discharged from hospitals, the health ministry said. Milk powder contaminated with melamine has been blamed for the deaths of four infants. Xinhua said the government in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia's capital, requested that police launch probe the sources of milk for China's largest dairy companies, Yili Industrial Group and Mengniu Dairy Group Co, both headquartered in the region.

Three of the suspects, who operated milk collecting stations, put additives containing melamine bought from two other suspects into their milk so it could pass quality testing, Xinhua said.

The report said the sixth suspect sold a range of man-made additives containing melamine but did not give any other details.

Suspects either sold industrial chemical melamine to milk suppliers or added it themselves

Middlemen apparently added melamine to milk they collected from farmers to sell to large dairy companies. The suppliers are accused of watering down the milk and then adding the nitrogen-rich chemical to make the milk seem higher in protein when tested.