By GottaLaff
Open wi-i-ide, babies! Time for your daily minimum requirement of--yummy!-- melamine:
Two months ago, federal food regulators said they were unable to set a safety threshold for the industrial chemical melamine in baby formula. Now, however, they found a way to settle on a standard that allows for higher levels than those found in U.S.-made batches of the product.Food and Drug Administration officials on Friday set a threshold of 1 part per million of melamine in formula, provided a related chemical is not present. They insisted the formulas are safe.
The development comes days after The Associated Press reported that FDA tests found traces of melamine in the infant formula of one major U.S. manufacturer and cyanuric acid, a chemical relative, in the formula of a second major maker. The contaminated samples, which both measured at levels below the new standard, were analyzed several weeks ago.
The FDA had said in early October it was unable to set a safety contamination level for melamine in infant formula.
Who's Mommy's little melaminer? Hmmm? Puts hair on your chest! Makes you grow big and strong... for as long as you survive, that is.
The standard is the same as the one public health officials have set in Canada and China, but is 20 times higher than the most stringent level in Taiwan.
The problem of melamine in infant formula first surfaced in China in September.
Vitamins? Check. Minerals? Check. Melamine? Double check.
The agency still will not set a safety level for melamine if cyanuric acid is also present [...]
A scientist for a national consumer group said it was irresponsible of FDA to assure the public that infant formula is safe based on tests of only 74 samples, especially since cyanuric acid is a byproduct of melamine, making it likely that they will be found together. [...]
Earlier this week, members of Congress and the Illinois attorney general demanded a national recall, something FDA said made no sense because it had no evidence suggesting that the formula would be dangerous for babies at the levels of contamination found. [...]
Melamine can legally be used in some food packaging, and can rub off into food from there. It's also part of a cleaning solution used on some food processing equipment.
I want a big, heaping spoonful right now! What a taste treat! Maybe if Big Biz were forced to ingest "safe levels" of the stuff, they'd be less inclined to feed it to our newborns.
But that wacky FDA. Who's gonna stop 'em? They're always looking out for our well-being, as you can see from these excerpts from a terrific article Bucky sent my way:
Up to 90 percent of the infant formula sold in the United States may be contaminated with trace amounts of melamine, the toxic chemical linked to kidney damage, according to recent tests. The FDA’s test results, which the agency hid from the public and only released after the Associated Press filed a Freedom of Information Act request, showed that Nestle, Mead Johnson and Enfamil infant formula products were all contaminated with melamine. [...]Go read the rest. Then have yourself a nice big bottle of Melamine-avegamin! It's so tasty, too! So everybody get a great big bottle of... this stuff:Prior to these test results being made public, the FDA had published a document on its website that explained there was no safe level of melamine contamination in infant formula. Specifically, the FDA stated, “FDA is currently unable to establish any level of melamine and melamine-related compounds in infant formula that does not raise public health concerns.”
Once tests found melamine in U.S.-made formula products, however, the FDA changed its story. As of today, the FDA has now officially declared melamine to be safe in infant formula as long as the contamination level is less than one part per million (1 ppm).
Astonishingly: The FDA has no new science to justify its abrupt decision declaring melamine to be safe!
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