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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, April 16, 2003

Milk Poisoning Tragedy Exposes Local Interference

Almost a month has passed since mass food poisoning in Haicheng, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, affected some 3,000 elementary school students. Anxious parents and the public are still waiting for explanations as to the cause of the contamination, while many victims are even now confined to sickbeds.


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Almost a month has passed since mass food poisoning in Haicheng, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, affected some 3,000 elementary school students. Anxious parents and the public are still waiting for explanations as to the cause of the contamination, while many victims are even now confined to sickbeds.

If the local government has failed to answer basic questions such as "what toxin was responsible" and "who is to blame," a much more satisfactory reply is expected soon from a Ministry of Health investigation team that is working hard on the case in the area.

Although the real story is yet to be told, it is now clear that a certain kind of soya milk is the culprit. According to a People's Daily story, about 4,900 students from eight elementary schools in Haicheng drank soya milk between classes on March 19, and 2,556 of them became sick. Apart from stomachaches, headaches, dizziness and twitching, many have also developed serious complications.

The soya milk was produced by the Anshan-based Baorun Milk Co, a Sino-US joint venture based in Anshan, Liaoning Province. The company as well as some parents and doctors treating the students suspect it is a case of deliberate poisoning. A representative of the company went further, saying that a competitor was to blame as the soya milk from the same batch delivered to other schools had not had any negative effects.

Putting aside the possibility of criminal tampering and even more venal motives, the Haicheng case should be remembered forever as a bitter lesson and highlight the need to improve food safety in schools.

When it was revealed the suspect soya milk was recommended by the local educational authorities, the Haicheng City Educational Commission came under immediate fire. The commission began to recommend