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Milk products marked “Made in the Philippines”
could contain raw ingredients brought in from China.
The possibility was raised on
Monday by Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd as he called for
“full disclosure” by local manufacturers of the sources of the
basic materials for their milk products.
Milk products produced in China
were found to have been contaminated with melamine, which can cause
kidney failure. They have been blamed for the death of at least four
children there late September.
Authorities in some parts of the
world have ordered the pullout of China-made milk products or
products containing milk and originating from that country from
groceries and supermarkets.
The Philippines’ Bureau of Food
and Drugs (BFAD) has yet to issue an official list of milk and
related products from China that have tested positive for melamine,
Duque said.
He added that he and the
bureau’s chief,Leticia Gutierrez, are working out a “strategy”
to persuade the local manufacturers to tell all on the foreign
sources of their raw ingredients.
Duque said the Health department
and the Bureau of Food and Drugs “will take it against” the
local makers if the two agencies eventually find out that the basic
materials had originated from China, not from any other country.
He did not say what action the
department and the bureau intend to take against the manufacturers.
“[There should be a policy of]
full disclosure [in the food industry],” Duque said.
On Sunday, Health Undersecretary
Alexander Padilla said the Bureau of Food and Drugs may come up with
a preliminary list of the milk and related products that had tested
positive for melamine on Wednesday or Thursday this week.
Testing continues
Meanwhile, Gutierrez said, the
bureau expects to continue testing 100 to 200 such products a day.
A senior official of the Health
department also on Monday said the agency is closely monitoring
Filipino children below five years old who are suffering from kidney
stones.
These children, according to Dr.
Eric Tayag, chief of the National Epidemiology Center, could be
possible victims of Chinese-made, melamine-contaminated milk
products.
“We have identified at least
three hospitals in Metro Manila who have cases of kidney problems
but we need to go back to previous health records [of the children]
in order to be sure if [what they are suffering from] has something
to do with the melamine scare,” Tayag told House reporters during
a chance interview.
He and other Health officials
were in Congress to defend the Health department’s budget for 2009
before the House Sub-committee on Health.
Tayag said the department would
monitor next other hospitals in the rest of the country where there
have been reports of children also suffering from kidney stones.
He pointed out that it is rare
for children aged five years and below to suffer from kidney stones,
which may be caused by infections, high-salt diet or exposure to
harmful chemicals other than melamine.
Tayag said that while only
children were reported to have been affected by the tainted milk,
the Health department was not ruling out that adults also could have
been affected by it.
Business backing
The Philippine Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (PCCI) also on Monday said it supports the
government’s temporary ban on milk products imported from China.
The ban was imposed by the Bureau of Food and Drugs last week.
In a statement, chamber President
Edgardo Lacson said the quick response of the Health department and
the Bureau of Customs on the issue is commendable.
“The
ban [on dairy and milk products imported from China] is just
appropriate, while at the same time, it calls upon [concerned]
agencies to continue their close collaboration with each other
together with the private sector so we can ensure the protection of
consumers,” he added.
The Health department recently
revoked import licenses of companies involved in the entry of dairy
and milk products from China and the Customs bureau also recently
banned shipments of China-made dairy and milk products.
Lacson said the monitoring of
substandard products which come in and out of the country should be
further intensified.
The Philippine chamber said it
has advised its members and local chambers to refrain from
purchasing and consuming any dairy products from China until the
Health department confirms that it is safe to consume such products.
Not enough
The response of the Health
department and the Customs bureau was found wanting by Mayor Jejomar
Binay of Makati City.
In a statement, he described such
action as “disorganized.”
“The response of the national
government is far from reassuring, sows panic and confusion and is
hurting business,” Binay said. He added that business is suffering
because the pubic has been holding back on its purchases.
Binay, citing earlier statements
from various government agencies, said that an expansion of the
scope of products to be tested has added to the alleged chaos.
In China, he noted, the
government’s efforts have focused on infant-milk formula, since
studies show that infants are most vulnerable to health hazards
posed by melamine.
But in the Philippines, Binay
said, some agencies have even gone to the extent of confiscating
food products, even in the absence of definite findings from the
Bureau of Food and Drugs.
The Customs bureau said more than
two million kilograms of milk imported from China were able to enter
the country from January to August this year.
In China, four babies have died
and more than 54,000 have fallen ill after drinking milk
contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine.
Melamine has been found in infant
formula and other milk products from 22 of China’s dairy
companies.
FRANCIS EARL A. CUETO, BEN
ARNOLD O. DE VERA, SAMMY MARTIN AND JAMES KONSTANTIN GALVEZ
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