Are Children Adopted from China at Risk from Tainted Milk?

by Pam Connell | More from this Blogger

02 Jan 2009 08:13 PM

You've probably heard about the scandal of melamine being added to pet food, milk and formula, and a few other items manufactured in China. Some adoptive parents have found kidney stones or other renal problems in their children adopted from China. Should more parents with children from China be worried?

Melamine is a chemical found in various cleaners and plastics, among other things. (You can find a blog describing symptoms in our Pets blog by clicking here. Like in animals, the primary worry about too much melamine exposure for children is urinary tract problems, including kidney stones and kidney failure. One human symptom not mentioned in the pet blog can be too little urine production.

In China, some companies have been found to have deliberately put melamine in milk and baby formula. Melamine causes the milk to test higher in protein when inspected, hiding the fact that the formula/milk has been watered down. According to the Chinese government, six children in China have died from tainted milk and over 300,000 have become ill (although many of those were with very small kidney stones treated on an outpatient basis).

Many adoptive parents are worried that their children may have ingested tainted milk or formula before they were adopted. Although the American Society of Pediatric Nephrology says that only group likely to be affected is infants who were in China in 2007 and in 2008, parents worry that melamine may have been added to formula in years before 2007 and gone unnoticed.

Many parents have asked their doctors to perform kidney function tests and/or renal ultrasounds on their children. (The Society of Pediatric Nephrology officially recommends testing only for children who were in China during the 2007-08 period AND who experience problems such as blood in their urine, kidney pain, unexplained crying or "other symptoms".)

While scientists do not know how long it takes humans to eliminate melamine from the body, pigs and rats have been found to eliminate melamine in four hours.

An online group for adoptive parents of children from China who are concerned about possible melamine exposure in their children registered over 1000 members in a month. Parents say they want to stay in touch with each other so they can share information if their children experience problems in the future. An informal, unscientific survey of group members found that of 132 children who had ultrasounds, eight were found to have kidney stones and 13 were found to have enlarged kidneys or other abnormalities.

A related blog by our baby blogger Mary Ann is about traces of melamine found in U.S. infant formula. These levels are dramatically lower than the amounts found in Chinese formula (tainted Chinese formula and milk have not been sold in the U.S.) and are thought to result from trace contact in manufacturing or packaging, perhaps from the disinfectants used to clean machinery. There are no reports of illnesses from U.S. formula.

Please see this related blog:

How Safe is our Baby Formula?

Learn more about Pam Connell

Pam Connell is a mother of three by both birth and adoption. She has worked in education, child care, social services, ministry and journalism.

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