Do you know WHY there was plastic in the baby formula?

[otherlander]

I heard that it's because the petrochemicals make the protein content look higher so they don't have to use as many actual nutrients. Shit. :(

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. and as it was pointed today in NPR... for me was a reminder

we had the same shit, different day (and used water instead of Melanime) back in the 1890s... for the same reason... no regulations and greed

[billyoc]

2. Because babies don't complain.

[depakid]

3. It's called melamine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melamine

[ColbertWatcher]

5. So, it's being deliberately put IN the milk?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_baby_milk_scandal

Like the way tobacco companies increased nicotine in cigarettes?

[depakid]

6. More or less

[Heidi]

4. Melamine is high in nitrogen and can "fool" tests that measure for protein.

Very, very sad. :(

"What started this month as news that a single company, Sanlu Group, was selling powdered milk containing the industrial chemical melamine to boost measurements of its protein content ballooned within days to involve 22 companies."
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fg-scandal24-2008sep24,0,1041826.story

"Melamine, a relatively cheap binding agent used in plastics and as a flame retardant, is rich in nitrogen, fooling widely used tests that check for protein. When mixed with formaldehyde, it dissolves in water."
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jL7mHkJcSHVOLlejms7eQS2xXDiwD93CR6K81

[Solly Mack]

7. Yes, I knew

:(

Nothing but murder

[AndyTiedye]

8. Same Reason it Was in the Cat Food

To fool a test into making it seem to have more protein than it really does.

[Horse with no Name]

9. I have wondered for a LONG time

if the increase in autism had anything to do with baby formula or the plastic bottles--when all along the plastic was actually in the formula all along.Go figure.
On another note...I remember when Carnation put Good Start out there...the American Academy of Pediatrics threw a fit. Then the onslaught of generic baby formula. The the rise in autism. Things that make you go hmmm....