Tainted Milk in China

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

This event from last year continues to have repercussions.

I heard a news story earlier today that reported five parents of children who drank tainted milk were detained by law enforcement officials for approximately 24 hours. The parents' offense was that they were planning to hold a news conference at a hotel (I think in Beijing) to make comments about the continued suffering of children and families as a result of ingestion of tainted milk by thousands of children.

According to the news story, the five parents were released after approximately 24 hours. But several more parents who were not detained by the police were prevented from holding the new conference because the hotel refused to allow the conference after the five parents were detained. The parents who arrived at the hotel and discovered that their news conference would not be allowed talked to reporters outside of the hotel while officers seated in three police cars observed.

According to the reporter to whom I listened, Chinese officials may have detained the five parents out of concern that increased attention to the tainted milk problem could extend beyond personal grief to widespread public mobilization against the government and efforts to effect political change.

Aside from whether this kind of concern by government officials is justified, it seems to me that the government has made it easier to sympathize with citizens and engender anti-government feelings by detaining grieving parents without coming down on individuals who bear blame for the underlying problem. It seems that some business and government officials have resigned because of this problem, and I understand that a few face prison time. But other than that, there doesn't seem to be serious consequences for people who are responsible for widespread injury (and some death) experienced by children and families. Seems to me that Chinese government officials' reaction to these parents is helping people mistrust the government more than they otherwise might.

[Anonymous]

I think that what I have been most struck by is the lack of international criticism and involvement. If the most powerful countries cannot mobilize against singular acts of violence inflicted upon helpless citizens then i fear our futures are quite bleak. Just the premise of this incident is really disturbing. There is no excuse for it and I do believe that the United States is implicated in the ordeal as well. There have been products in the US found to have contained melanin. If our government cannot and will not regulate how the Chinese or any foreign trading partner conducts business we need to re-evaluate or priorities.

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