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Like many similar incidents in the past, the melamine poisoning
scandal is just a symptom of a global food system characterized by
corporate greed and government neglect.
The government tries to show it is addressing
the problem by parading to the media hurriedly confiscated milk
products while it downplays the dangers by echoing the corporate
line that humans will have to ingest unrealistically huge volumes of
contaminated milk to be poisoned.
Just as quickly, Nestlé and other companies put
out expensive ads proclaiming that their products are safe, even
without undergoing the appropriate tests. These short-sighted and
self-serving knee-jerk reactions do not protect the health of
consumers but perpetuate the pathetic state of affairs as far as
food safety is concerned.
Food safety has never been a serious concern of
governments and corporations, particularly with the advent of
globalization. Under the World Trade Organization rules, countries,
especially weaker ones, could be forced to import food products that
could be contaminated with toxic chemicals or substances. Any
attempt to ban or restrict such harmful substances, even when these
are already banned in other countries, is met with fierce resistance
by corporate giants and their host countries. Such is the case, for
example, for pesticides, artificial sweeteners and additives,
genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and now melamine.
Melamine is a synthetic chemical used in a wide
range of products such as kitchen dishes and utensils, furniture,
cleaning agents, glues, fertilizers and drugs. It is a byproduct of
cyromazine, a triazine pesticide commonly used in vegetable and
chicken farms. In 1987, it was shown to be present in coffee, orange
juice, fermented milk and lemon juice, leaching from cups made of
melamine resin. From 1979 to1987, there was widespread melamine
contamination of fish and meat meal in Italy and in 2004, there was
a nephrotoxicity (kidney damage) outbreak in pets in Asia. Thousands
of cats and dogs, mostly in the US, became seriously ill or died of
acute renal failure after eating melamine contaminated pet food in
2007. Hogs, chicken and fish were also found to be similarly
contaminated.
Cyanuric acid is a common disinfectant used in
swimming pools together with chlorine. It is used as an ingredient
in herbicides and in the production of melamine and sponge rubber.
It is also an intermediate chemical in the bacterial degradation of
melamine and in bleach and whitening agents production.
Trichloromelamine is the chlorinated form of melamine mainly used as
a disinfectant and cleaning agent.
Melamine may cause adverse reproductive effects,
may affect genetic material and may cause bladder cancer, based on
animal data. It may also cause skin, eye and respiratory tract
irritation and irritation of the digestive tract with nausea,
vomiting and diarrhea, and may damage the urinary system. However,
cyanuric acid and trichloromelamine have greater toxicity potential
in causing kidney damage, developmental toxicity and cancer.
By themselves, based on standard risk
assessments, melamine and cyanuric acid are considered to be of low
acute toxicity. However, multiple sources and multiple chemical
exposures is the more likely exposure situation from these chemicals
and should be the basis for assessing risks to human health. Other
compounds, such as herbicides structurally and toxicologically
similar to these compounds, must also be considered.
Much can already be said about the potential
harm these chemicals pose to animals and humans. The mechanism of
renal toxicity of melamine and cyanuric acid is well established and
that acute or chronic exposure could lead to renal failure. Existing
empirical and scientific data indicate that it is likely at present
circumstances to reach exposure levels sufficient to cause harm. The
European Food Safety Authority, despite conservative risk assessment
methodologies, said: “in worst case scenarios with the highest
level of contamination, children with high daily consumption of milk
toffee, chocolate or biscuits containing high levels of milk powder
would exceed the TDI [tolerable daily intake].” This does not even
consider cyanuric acid in swimming pools, melamine from pesticides
and contaminated vegetables, fish and meat, and leachate from
kitchen wares. With milk products from China already banned in
Europe at the time of the assessment, the said worst case scenario
did not even consider potential sources from milk and ice cream!
The extent of harm that melamine and related
compounds have caused is not clear at this time but simply
confiscating products will not solve the problem. Government
officials should not downplay the dangers of food contaminated with
toxic chemicals. Mechanisms for appropriate monitoring and timely
intervention should be established. Food safety should be placed
high in the political agenda and greed, corporate and otherwise,
eliminated. Safe food should be put in the hands of the people!
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Dr. Romeo Quijano is a member of AGHAM and is a
Professor at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology of the
College of Medicine, University of the Philippines Manila.
prom.bound@gmail.com
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