Fury in China as female infants grow breasts after drinking milk laced with hormones

Milk blamed for 'baby breasts'

Fury in China as female infants grow breasts after drinking milk laced with hormones

The horrifying scenes have caused uproar among parents in central China, who fear that the milk powder they used had led to the premature developments.

Raging hormones
Medical tests indicated that the level of hormones in three 'test case' girls, ranging in age from four months to 15 months, exceeded those found in the average adult woman.

All the babies who showed symptoms of the phenomenon were fed the same baby formula.

"The amount of hormones in the babies definitely means there's a problem," said Yang Qin, chief physician in the child care department at the Hubei Maternity and Children's Hospital.

Red tapism
He urged parents to stop using the formula and insisted that the milk powder be subjected to chemical analysis.
But his suggestion has come up against red tape.

Local food safety authorities have refused one mother's request to investigate the formula, made by the Synutra company, claiming they do not conduct tests when requested by consumers.

The suspect baby formula is still being sold in the Hubei provincial capital, Wuhan, at discounted prices and is also on store shelves in Beijing.

Synutra insisted that its products were safe, claiming that "no man-made hormones or any illegal substances were added during the production of the milk powder."

As experts tried to pin down the source of the hormones that resulted in babies growing breasts, a dairy association said the hormones could have entered the food chain when farmers reared the cattle.

"Since a regulation forbidding the use of hormones to cultivate livestock has yet to be drawn up in China, it would be lying to say nobody uses it," said Wang Dingmian, the former chairman of the dairy association in the southern province of Guangdong.

Two years ago Chinese dairy products were recalled worldwide after it was revealed that melamine, used to make plastics, was widely and illegally added to the products to give the appearance of higher protein.

At least six infants died and 300,000 others fell sick as a result of the malamine additions, it was claimed.

The Other Side

Synutra International Inc, a Chinese maker of baby formula, denied the report that its products may cause premature development in infants. The company in a statement on its website said its products are safe and that it may use "legal means" to protect itself. Synutra didn't identify the report it denied.

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