Melamine is toxic to mammals, including humans, and can cause kidney stones, renal failure and death if doses are high enough. The industrial chemical appeared in pet food made in China, killing 1,000 pets in the U.S. in 2007. It has now been found in milk, added to give a false reading on the protein levels in milk and milk products.
By artificially raising the protein levels in milk and milk products, milk producers are able to sell a diluted product, gaining greater profits.
In response to the international crisis, the WHO is seeking scientific experts to participate in an emergency expert meeting on the toxicological aspects of melamine and cyanuric acid. The meeting will be held on Dec. 1-4 in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Scientific studies at the National Institute of Health in the U.S. and elsewhere have shown that the combination of melamine and cyanuric acid can form an insoluble complex in the kidneys, and could lead to renal failure. The increase in kidney stones and renal failure reported in infants in China has been linked to milk formula poisoned with melamine. Multiple other products have tested positive for melamine all over the world since the initial discovery of melamine-contaminated milk made in September.
According to a statement by the WHO, despite member states’ preliminary assessments, “there is now an urgent need to update and evaluate the current international knowledge base [on melamine]”.
Objectives for the meeting include reviewing current knowledge on the chemistry of melamine alone, and in combination with its analogues (e.g. cyanuric acid), analytical methods for detection in food, instances of melamine in food as a result of normal food production and processing versus adulteration. The meeting will also look at the human health risk assessment.
Meeting attendees will include chemistry, toxicology of melamine structural analogues, and human health risk assessment experts.
Friends Read Free