Parents file lawsuit in China against dairy firm

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According to the Caijing, a leading Chinese business magazine, the 1-year-old in Central China's Henan province was fed infant food, from the time of birth, made by Sanlu Group Co.

This is believed to be the first civil lawsuit filed in response to the melamine contamination of liquid milk, yogurt and other dairy products. Four infants have died and more than 50,000 have become ill after drinking the tainted formula.

One of the child's parents are suing Sanlu for $22,000 for medical, travel and other expenses incurred after the child developed Kidney stones. The full name of the child or parents were not released.

Meanwhile the Chinese government named 15 more companies for producing products tainted with melamine after a new series of tests. According to the government the contaminated samples were mostly milk powder for adults.

Twenty companies provided provided samples of Chinese milk powder and thirty-one samples were found tainted with melamine after new tested.

More than 13,000 children have been sent to the hospital and 27 people were arrested in connection with the contamination. The scandal was worsened by an apparent cover-up by companies involved in the contamination and safety officials ignored the tips and warnings from parents and doctors.Top Sanlu executives and government officials in the northern city of Shijiazhuang have been forced to resign.

Melamine is dangerous to people's health because it is high in nitrogen and is used to make plastics and fertilizers. Experts say that the chemical may be transferred from the environment during food processing.

However, in China's case it appears that suppliers were trying to boost output and they are believed to have diluted their milk and adding melamine because its nitrogen content can fool tests aimed at verifying protein content.

Chinese health officials say that levels of melamine discovered in batches tested varied, from as much as 6,196 milligrams per kilogram to as little 1.3 per kilogram. No harm comes from consuming less than 0.63 milligrams per kilogram, according to health officials in China.