Community | November 29, 2008 | 63 comments

FDA: Melamine okay in baby formula

source: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=6357398

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Psychedelic
The FDA today said that it was ok to have melamine in baby formula. Melamine is a plastic manufactured by Monsanto chemical company which dates back to the 1950 and the petro-chemistry revolution. Melamine is commonly used in counter tops and for the interior of buses.
Melamine is an organic base and a trimer of cyanamide, with a 1,3,5-triazine skeleton. Like cyanamide, it contains 66% nitrogen by mass and, if mixed with resins, has fire retardant properties due to its release of nitrogen gas when burned or charred, and has several other industrial uses. Melamine is also a metabolite of cyromazine, a pesticide. It is formed in the body of mammals who have ingested cyromazine. It has been reported that cyromazine can also be converted to melamine in plants.

Melamine combines with cyanuric acid to form melamine cyanurate, which has been implicated in the Chinese protein export contamination.

Melamine is combined with formaldehyde to produce melamine resin, a very durable thermosetting plastic used in Formica, and melamine foam, a polymeric cleaning product. The end products include countertops, dry erase boards, fabrics, glues, housewares and flame retardants. Melamine is one of the major components in Pigment Yellow 150, a colorant in inks and plastics.

Melamine also enters the fabrication of melamine poly-sulfonate used as superplasticizer for making high-resistance concrete. Sulfonated melamine formaldehyde (SMF) is a polymer used as cement admixture to reduce the water content in concrete while increasing the fluidity and the workability of the mix during its handling and pouring. It results in concrete with a lower porosity and a higher mechanical strength exhibiting an improved resistance to aggressive environments and a longer life-time.


Now doesn't that sound like a healthy ingredient for your child's baby formula?

Less than two months after federal food regulators said they were unable to set a safety threshold for the industrial chemical melamine in baby formula, they announced 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 isn't present. They insisted the formulas are safe.
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63 comments // FDA: Melamine okay in baby formula

  • darkhorsejim
    • 0
      darkhorsejim  

    • The Federal Deception Agency - (FDA) - hard at work on behalf of their financial backing overseers by exposing Americans, & the rest of the world, to a whole new system of marketing, profiting from allowable amounts of lethal chemicals in our food supply - many that would kill you by consuming just a teaspoon.

      The FDA leaves Big Pharma's prescription drug researching, testing & development without an acceptable amount of data & enough time for the necessary analysis of solid laboratory test results. Our gov’t agencies are no longer keeping consumers in their best interest & need to be held accountable – particularly those entrusted to ensure our safety, instead of relying on the autopsies of victims.

      The FDA is a sham agency that can be bought & sold depending on whatever a company is developing for health or healing benefits while attempting to hide & confuse consumers that homeopathic, natural & herbal remedies are available with far less side effects, dependency & cost. The FDA does as much as possible to discourage effective alternative or complementary therapies that could be saving lives daily, reducing unnecessary deaths & illnesses. Don’t entrust your health to the government. Take an active role to be your own health advocate.

    • 3 years ago
  • bushiitop
    • 0
      bushiitop  

    • this is a joke. we should protesting in the streets by tomorrow morning. This is not an Obama issue, this is the people's issue. FDA is funded and run by the Pharmaceutical Companies. Whether you have children or not we all will be effected by similar issues regardless.... our parents, grandparents, friends and/or ourselves.

    • 3 years ago
  • CalgarC
  • CreamyDream
    • 0
      CreamyDream  

    • You cannot have these corrupt, lying, worthless agencies of the federal government constantly being bribed and bought off and continue with this ignorant mentality USA USA USA...WE'RE THE BEST BABY...it's just downright freaking insane how many agencies and people involved in our own government are nothing more than corrupt little greedy bastards who should be in prison.

      FDA is only one such agency. The FCC is just as dangerous to your mental health. The FTC is equally as corrupt and greedy. The AFT, the DEA, the DHS...etc. This story, about the bizarre inclusion of melamine in baby formula, is endemic of the sickness, greed and corruption found within the entire system of regulatory agencies in the US government.

      The exact thing that gives so many in the US so much pride...money, money, money...is the exact thing that is systematically destroying the country and the world.

    • 3 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  

    • And there's more fun facts for all of us ;)

      For example... Bisphenol A is in the lining of every canned product and it oozes out its chemical cocktail in all of us...

      Exposé on The Journal: Chemicals in Food
      http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/05232008/watch2.html

      Bisphenol A Fact Sheet
      http://www.environmentaldefence.ca/toxicnation/action/bisphenolfaq.htm

      12 protective steps for the dangers of BPA poisoning
      http://www.greenlivingonline.com/HealthNutrition/12-ways-to-protect-yourself-aga...

      While the ordinary citizen is busy, busy going through the motions of being environmentally conscious & recycling the crap out of his consumer life; psychotic corporations are still spewing out tons of mercury & other poisons under the guise of the watchdogs they, themselves, created & financed. We are being had. Again… We are made to feel guilty about our measly pollution while the industrial conglomerates are killing the shit out of the planet & ourselves. Thanks Mindfuck Inc.we could not use, abuse & oh so confuse the good people without your diligent help !

      Just saying ;)

      CITIZENS 2.0 : PLAYERS NOT CHEERLEADERS !

      STOP JUDGING POLITICIANS ON WHAT THEY SAY BUT ON WHAT THEY DO !

      Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong. ~ Richard Armour

    • 3 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  
    • WhiteNoise:

      BILL MOYERS: If it weren't for the work of a muckraking journalist more than a century ago, the Federal Food and Drug Administration, the FDA, might never have existed. In 1906, Upton Sinclair published The Jungle, a fierce graphic account of the meatpacking industry's filth, corruption and exploitation. His vivid, stomach-churning depiction fueled a demand for more stringent inspections and the creation of the FDA to keep food, medicine and other products fit for human consumption.

      Last week, FDA officials and other government witnesses were called to a Senate Committee hearing on the safety of Bisphenol A, or BPA that's a chemical used in a variety of plastic products from baby sippy cups to eyeglasses. When Senator Schumer and five of his colleagues introduced legislation calling for a ban on BPA in all kids' products, they used information uncovered by the investigative reporting of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. How the paper's reporters got that story is the subject of this report from our colleagues at Exposé, narrated by Sylvia Chase.

      http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/05232008/transcript2.html

    • 3 years ago
  • dreaddaze
  • think_free
    • 0
      think_free  

    • "Also, how often do we see breastfeeding portrayed in Hollywood and on TV? It's usually always images of bottle feeding that get promoted. This should be reversed."

      Not only that, but also this supposed need to have your child in a hospital. This society acts like the average birth is such an emergency.

    • 3 years ago
  • Thorfinna
    • 0
      Thorfinna  

    • I find it interesting how the FDA director of food safety advises not to actually feed your child without using this prepackaged formula because you might not give them the proper nutrition. It's just more of how we are scared into doing what they say instead of thinking and doing for ourselves.

    • 3 years ago
  • Inventor
    • 0
      Inventor  

    • This ABC story tells a lurid scientific tale, outrageous even for the W. Bush administration, but then the story lacks details. That happens with TV news.

      Who specifically are these idiots? What is their reasoning? Do the police know if any of them live in my neighborhood? Can they legally give out Halloween candy?

    • 3 years ago
  • Johnny_Danger
    • 0
      Johnny_Danger  

    • The reason that it wasn't announced is because it was only trace amounts in one can out of 75 that were tested. Not nearly enough to have any effect if ingested. Also, nobody intentionally put the melamine into the formula it was absorbed from the plastic lining in the can.

      Just trying to clear some things up.

    • 3 years ago
  • rosettastar
  • uppityprogressive
    • 0
      uppityprogressive  

    • Ravi Batra says the exposure of corruption and government abuse of the people will cause a voters revolution and a restructuring of our entire economic and social systems.

      Bring it on!

      Meanwhile, Ralph Nader for FDA chief.

    • 3 years ago
  • stacieROCKZ
  • Dragunov316
    • 0
      Dragunov316  

    • The FDA constantly raises the amounts poisons and toxin levels allowed in our foods and water. Less than 100 years ago, there was no allowable amount of chemicals in foods or water.

      How many toxic chemicals will you allow your child to consumption? I will allow none.

    • 3 years ago
  • miamilev
    • 0
      miamilev  

    • I have a 6 month old baby needless to say he wont be eating any of this crap!!! It's typical they say it's safe now in a year when it's discovered babys are dying or getting sick they'll come out and say it's not a safe level but of course they'll cover it up some how. It might take longer (Asbestos) It would be nice if we could trust our own country! Money grubbing bastards!

    • 3 years ago
  • kivol
    • 0
      kivol  

    • how disgusting can the government get when stomping over individual health, rights, and liberty. will we ever be free from this kind of corruption? The USA needs to get a grip on reality for us as a species to move forward. The future looks a little more grim for my future children.

    • 3 years ago
  • GrammaConcept
  • VSiskos
  • ruddy
    • 0
      ruddy  

    • sure, the FDA also okay'd Thalidomide...
      but, melamine is simply a constituent of these other things.
      i bet there's carbon in all of them too.
      OH GOSH, LET'S STOP INGESTING CARBON AS WELL!

    • 3 years ago
  • Axeam
  • Nealeigh
  • Scott_Bromley
  • queenofit
  • cerulean226
    • 0
      cerulean226  

    • How is this possible? It should never be okay to have plastics being consumed by infants. THAT'S NOT NORMAL! Nor natural!!! Plastic is also proven to be a cause of cancer! What does the FDA want? More sick people to fuel the medical industry? Ughh!

    • 3 years ago
  • RUSerious
  • lookatmypix
    • 0
      lookatmypix  

    • Obama, what the hell are you doing?

      Economy is our priority? Health care is our priority?

      Making money, getting better and less expensive health care is great but what good is going to do to the people if we keep getting poisoned by the food we consume?

      FDA and monsanto should be banned, they are the same antichrist, we need a new system that is incorruptable.

    • 3 years ago
  • pokesmot
  • phillyphil
    • 0
      phillyphil  

    • monsanto is evil. dont trust anything that they do.

      my dad spent decades working with the FDA through other medical companies. he hated them. they were worthless. the FDA would pass things as safe that his company didnt even authorize...

    • 3 years ago
  • petarro
    • 0
      petarro  

    • The FDA obviously does not work for the Consumers but for the Corporations and under a shadow of China.

      Do not use Products from China.

    • 3 years ago
  • ctrl_alt_del
  • HolyCity2012
  • diabolical44
  • nessie00
    • 0
      nessie00  

    • Breast feeding is the answer but in this country people freak if you decide to nurse in public. Men can't seem to handle what is most natural. Breasts are for babies not just for men.

    • 3 years ago
  • nkeg87
  • krush_productions
  • covelogibbs
    • 0
      covelogibbs  
    • Image
    • krush_productions:

      Breast is definitely best, but.....

      Because of the way some chemicals bind to fat in our bodies, measurable concentrations can build up and eventually work their way into mother's milk when the body calls on fat supplies during lactation. It is a phenomenon of the chemical age, something our grandmothers never had to face.

    • 3 years ago
  • krush_productions
  • covelogibbs
  • diabolical44
  • samthesixth
  • Vierotchka
    • 0
      Vierotchka  
    • krush_productions:

      Many mothers run out of milk long before their babies are weaned. Many others get extremely sore nipples from their babies' suckling and biting, and cannot breast-feed any more. Others must not breast-feed because they have HIV or other medical conditions, etc., so formula remains a necessity.

    • 3 years ago
  • SeaJade
    • 0
      SeaJade  

    • How much more obvious does the intentional poisoning of not only the environment but us as well have to get.

      For those who have not seen this related 10 minute overview of other atrocious acts - "The Chemical Dumbing Down of America".

      Thank you poksemot for forwarding this.

    • 3 years ago
  • pokesmot
  • queenofit
    • 0
      queenofit  
    • SeaJade:

      Well, like it or not, the evidence is growing that we have lots and lots of severe effects from all the chemicals in our enviornment. The cynical in me wants to say, "oh well, by the time all the damage is done, most will be too dumbed down to even notice"

      The bleeding heart in me, hurts deeply.

    • 3 years ago
  • covelogibbs
  • blazedNconfused
  • pokesmot
    • 0
      pokesmot  

    • Wow my niece just had a baby like two months ago and I showed her this, it appears I am more alarmed than she is.
      She wanted to know her options so we checked the organic formulas and organic was cheaper!
      I duuno if she will change a thing though.

    • 3 years ago
  • azulagua
    • 0
      azulagua  
    • pokesmot:

      yes tis true, the kids don't seem to want to hear it when there's danger lurking. My own daughter breast feeds, I am so thankful to say...but when issues of safety come up i usually have to make a big deal out of it to be heard. I think they want very badly to maintain their state of innocense in this very violated world.

    • 3 years ago
  • pokesmot
  • azulagua
    • 0
      azulagua  

    • It appears that it's ok to criticize china for poisoning their babies. We must be feeling jealous and want our share of the criticism. We need a new, more conscious FDA. What we have now is a mediator for big business to sell their poisons with permission and keep the populace appeased. Sucks!!!!!!!!Big time!

    • 3 years ago
  • WhiteNoise
    • 0
      WhiteNoise  
    • Image

    • QUICK QUIZ: HOW U.S. DEMOCRACY WORKS

      Question: How is it that every industrialized nation in the world has banned Monsanto's rBGH as unsafe, but it's legal (and unlabeled) in the United States?

      Answer: In order for the FDA to determine if Monsanto's growth hormones were safe or not, Monsanto was required to submit a scientific report on that topic. Margaret Miller, one of Monsanto's researchers put the report together.

      Shortly before the report submission, Miller left Monsanto and was hired by the FDA. Her first job for the FDA was to determine whether or not to approve the report she wrote for Monsanto. In short, Monsanto approved its own report. Assisting Miller was another former Monsanto researcher, Susan Sechen.

      Deciding whether or not rBGH-derived milk should be labeled fell under the jurisdiction of another FDA official, Michael Taylor, who previously worked as a lawyer for Monsanto.

      HOW MONSANTO'S POLICIES HAVE BECOME U.S. POLICY

      Prior to being the Supreme Court Judge who put G.W. in office, Clarence Thomas was Monsanto's lawyer.

      The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture (Anne Veneman) was on the Board of Directors of Monsanto's Calgene Corporation.

      The Secretary of Defense (Donald Rumsfeld) was on the Board of Directors of Monsanto's Searle pharmaceuticals.

      The U.S. Secretary of Health, Tommy Thompson, received $50,000 in donations from Monsanto during his winning campaign for Wisconsin's governor.

      The two congressmen receiving the most donations from Monsanto during the last election were Larry Combest (Chairman of the House Agricultural Committee) and Attorney General John Ashcroft.

      (Source: Dairy Education Board)

      Source: (Biodemocracy) Organic Bytes #17, 7/03

      Revolving Doors: Monsanto and the Regulators
      http://www.psrast.org/ecologmons.htm

      PRESCRIPTION FOR DISASTER
      http://freedocumentaries.org/theatre.php?filmid=167&id=1029&wh=1000x720

      "Prescription for Disaster" is an in-depth investigation into the symbiotic relationships between the pharmaceutical industry, the FDA, lobbyists, lawmakers, medical schools, and researchers, and the impact this has on American consumers and their health care. During this thorough investigation, the film takes a close look at patented drugs, why they are so readily prescribed by doctors, the role insurance companies and HMO's play in promoting compliance, and the problem of rising health care costs. It examines the marketing and public relations efforts on behalf of the pharmaceutical companies, including sales reps, medical journals and conferences. Further, the film looks at alternatives to traditional pharmacology and drug therapy, such as vitamins and nutritional supplements, and why they are often perceived as a competitive threat to the drug manufacturers. Alternative therapies also include diet, exercise and a healthy lifestyle.

    • 3 years ago
  • covelogibbs
  • Psychedelic
  • samthesixth
  • HolyCity2012
  • simplecj
  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  
    • Image

    • When the FDA found traces of melamine in the baby formula, they actually called up the companies involved to warn them, but didn't tell the public. WHAT A DISGRACE. I don't trust anything any of these agencies tell me.

    • 3 years ago
  • HolyCity2012
    • 0
      HolyCity2012  

    • Now the question is "who exactly does the Food & Drug Administration work for?"

      a.)We the People?

      b.)The Government?

      c.)Multi-National Corporations?

      here is a hint, who can write the biggest check?

    • 3 years ago
  • CalgarC
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