新西兰总理指责中国地方官员隐瞒问题奶粉

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新西兰总理指责中国地方官员隐瞒问题奶粉

作者：英国《金融时报》吉密欧(Jamil Anderlini)北京、彼得•史密斯(Peter Smith)悉尼报道 2008-09-17

新西兰总理周一表示，中国官员得知在售奶粉受到化学污染已有数周时间，但直到新西兰政府向北京施压才采取行动。这些受污染奶粉已导致2名婴儿死亡，1253名患病。

三鹿集团(Sanlu Group)销售受污染婴幼儿配方奶粉事件于上周由中国官方媒体首次披露，激起了父母们的恐慌和愤怒。新西兰恒天然乳业合作集团(Fonterra Dairy Co-operative)持有三鹿43%的股份。

上周四，三鹿集团被勒令停产，并发布了全面召回声明。调查人员此前发现，三鹿奶粉中含有的化学物质三聚氰胺(melamine)造成了婴儿患肾结石。三聚氰胺通常用于生产塑料、化肥和清洁产品。

中国卫生部副部长马晓伟表示，截至周一上午，共有1253名婴儿确诊因食用三鹿奶粉而患病，其中340名患儿仍留院观察，53名患儿病情“较重”。上周末，官员称有432名婴儿患病。

三聚氰胺就是去年在中国出口至美国的受污染宠物食品中发现的化学品，这些食品导致数千只宠物死亡。

恒天然首席执行官安德鲁•费里尔(Andrew Ferrier)周一表示，三鹿集团董事会于8月2日得知污染事件，随即开始贸易召回(trade recall)。但直到近6周后，才开始公开召回。三鹿董事会中，有三名恒天然的董事。

“（恒天然）几周来一直努力要求进行官方正式召回(official recall)，但中国地方当局不愿这么做，”新西兰总理海伦•克拉克(Helen Clark)周一在电视上表示。“在地方一级……我觉得他们首先想做的就是试图掩盖事实，希望不通过官方正式召回就解决问题。”

她表示，恒天然集团告知新西兰政府这一状况之后，新西兰驻华大使便立刻联系了北京的高级政府官员，此时中央政府开始做出反应。

“我们是揭发者，然后他们迅速介入，确保采取实际行动，”克拉克表示。

中国媒体于9月10日首次报道了婴儿因食用三鹿配方奶粉而患病。三鹿集团9月11日发布声明，召回所有在8月6日之前生产的三鹿产品。

据中国媒体报道，三鹿在3月份首次接到其产品导致婴儿患病的投诉，而中国质量监督检验检疫总局(China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine)早在6月份就收到了公众投诉。

奥运期间，一位匿名博客张贴了一份中宣部的指示，指示禁止中国媒体报道一些敏感话题，其中包括食品安全问题。

据媒体报道，9月2日，即丑闻揭露前一周，中国国家电视台还播出了一档节目，将三鹿集团誉为生产质量和产品安全的榜样。

弗里尔称，中国政府已经拘留了19名事件相关人士，但其中没有三鹿雇员。

罪魁祸首最有可能是从奶农处收购牛奶，再供应给三鹿的商贩。他们可能稀释了牛奶，然后加入三聚氰胺，以使牛奶的蛋白质含量显得高于实际水平。

许多患儿来自中国最贫困的地区，令人不安地回想起2004年的一起事件。当时，安徽省至少有13名婴儿因食用没有任何营养价值的伪冒婴儿配方奶粉而死亡。

记者周一无法联系到三鹿请求置评，但弗里尔对恒天然的角色进行了辩护，称“作为少数股东，（公司）必须继续督促三鹿。而三鹿必须与其本国政府合作，依照给定的程序办事。”

然而，新西兰绿党(Green party)表示，恒天然本应该更早将情况公之于众。

译者/何黎

 

NZ ACCUSES CHINA OF TAINTED MILK COVER-UP

Chinese officials knew for weeks about sales of chemical-tainted milk powder that has killed two babies and made 1,253 ill, but did not act until Wellington pressed Beijing, New Zealand's prime minister said on Monday.

The sale of tainted infant formula by Sanlu Group, the Chinese producer 43 per cent owned by Fonterra Dairy Co-operative of New Zealand , was reported for the first time by state media last week, sparking panic and outrage among parents.

Chinese officials knew for weeks about sales of chemical-tainted milk powder that has killed two babies and made 1,253 ill, but did not act until Wellington pressed Beijing, New Zealand's prime minister said on Monday.

The sale of tainted infant formula by Sanlu Group, the Chinese producer 43 per cent owned by Fonterra Dairy Co-operative of New Zealand , was reported for the first time by state media last week, sparking panic and outrage among parents.

Sanlu was ordered to halt production and issue a general recall on Thursday after investigators found that the chemical melamine – which is normally used in plastics, fertilisers and cleaning products – in its milk powder was causing kidney stones in infants.

By Monday morning, 1,253 children had been diagnosed with illnesses linked to the powder, with 340 still in hospital, and 53 “relatively serious” cases, said Ma Xiaowei, Chinese vice-minister of health. At the weekend, officials said 432 children were ill.

Melamine is the same chemical that was found in tainted pet food exports from China to the US that killed thousands of pets last year.

The Sanlu board, which has three Fonterra directors, was told of contamination on August 2 when a trade recall began, said Andrew Ferrier, Fonterra's chief executive, on Monday. A public recall did not start until nearly six weeks later.

“[Fonterra] have been trying for weeks to get an official recall and the local authorities in China would not do it,” Helen Clark, New Zealand's prime minister, said on television on Monday. “At a local level . . . I think the first inclination was to try and put a towel over it and deal with it without an official recall.”

She said that once Fonterra had made the New Zealand government aware of the situation, the country's ambassador contacted senior government officials in Beijing, at which point central authorities reacted.

“We were the whistleblowers and they leapt in and ensured there was action on the ground,” said Ms Clark.

Chinese media first reported babies were falling ill after drinking Sanlu formula on September 10 and a recall of all Sanlu products made before August 6 was issued on September 11.

Sanlu first received complaints in March that its products were making babies sick and public complaints to China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine were made as early as June, according to Chinese media reports.

A directive from China's propaganda department that was posted by an anonymous blogger during the Olympics forbade Chinese media from reporting on a number of sensitive topics, including food safety issues.

On September 2, just one week before the scandal broke, China's state television aired a programme that hailed Sanlu as a model of manufacturing quality and product safety, according to media reports.

The government has detained 19 people in connection with the case, but no Sanlu employees, according to Mr Ferrier.

The most likely culprits are dealers who collect milk from farmers and supply it to Sanlu. They may have diluted it and added melamine, which can make milk's protein level appear higher than it is.

Many of the sick babies are from China's poorest areas, in a disturbing echo of a case in 2004 when at least 13 babies in Anhui province died after drinking fake baby formula with no nutritional value.

Sanlu could not be reached for comment on Monday, but Mr Ferrier defended Fonterra's role, saying that “as a minority shareholder, [the company] had to continue to push Sanlu. Sanlu had to work with their own government to follow the procedures that they were given.”