Dose of melamine matters

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By Chong Zi (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-10-14 07:49

Should melamine be allowed in our milk? The issue was gradually clarified after debates heated up. All of a sudden, it became a worry again.

In a joint announcement in October, the Ministry of Public Health, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Agriculture, State Administration for Industry and Commerce and General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine allowed a small dose of melamine in the milk and dairy products. For example, 1mg/kg is OK for powdered milk for infants and maximum of 2.5mg/kg acceptable for milk (including the one as material), other powdered milk and dairy products.

The public health officials and experts justified that zero tolerance of melamine is impossible because food has to be packed. A small portion of melamine comes along with the packing stuff.

So melamine has gained new access to our milk and dairy products. I say "new" because most of the consumers assume that "melamine free" is the important benchmark for qualified safe milk and dairy products. The spot tests the government took shortly after the milk scandal was exposed verified that this logic makes sense. The published test results showed us the products with "no melamine" tags and those with that chemical on the blacklist.

Didn't they mean that some companies can produce milk without melamine? Then why are 1mg and 2.5mg of melamine acceptable for our milk and dairy products?

Melamine-contaminated milk has driven the country into a panic. We cannot afford to study how much dose of it is harmful.

Consumers have a right to say NO to it altogether.

* * *

A young man boxed the ear of Yan Chongnian, a 74-year-old historian, on October 5 when he promoted his new book, The Kangxi Emperor, in Wuxi, Jiangsu province. The reason for the attack was simple: he disagreed with Yan, an expert on the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). China was under the reign of Manchu, an ethnic group in the country's northeast, for 267 years.

The historian is of this ethic group. He has been accused of supporting "the Manchu's command of China."

Whatever, he does not deserve slaps. It seems that authors should ask police for help when they did promotions.

We don't know how to handle our anger when we don't agree with others. How we protest is related to our personality rather than our rights.

When I was quite young, I saw our news programs covering the dark side of capitalist countries: now and then some people protested against the governments, with tomatoes and eggs in their hands. Wherever the tomatoes and eggs went, it caused a mess. If they went to some people who wore Armani or Prada, it would cost a lot to clean.

But eggs or tomatoes cannot hurt people but help deliver one of the pent-up hatred. Most important of all, egg or tomato protest does not make the protestors criminals.

We stir-fry eggs with tomatoes for a delicious dish.

The young attacker in Wuxi was detained for 15 days for slapping the historian in the ear. He must have regretted not to study how his foreign peers do. Had he done properly, he would have given vent to his discontent and left Yan unhurt.

However, eggs and tomatoes cannot solve the matters of disputation.

In his "The Right to Heresy," Stefan Zweig said only one thing can save mankind from barbarism - toleration. Our world has room for many truths, which, if people had goodwill, could abide harmoniously together.

(China Daily 10/14/2008 page8)