Pet Food Poisoning Mystery May Be Solved
WASHINGTON, May 3, 2007
(CBS/AP) The mystery of how two chemicals that are considered non-toxic poisoned so many pets may have been solved,
CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes reports.
The breakthrough was made at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. A week ago, scientist Perry Martos mixed together a few drops of melamine and cyanuric acid, the two unauthorized chemicals found in tainted pet food.
In less than a second, they formed a mass of crystals nearly identical to crystals found in the kidneys of sickened animals.
"If you can imagine an instantaneous kidney stone — that's essentially the way I would perceive it," says Martos.
Dr. Kimberly May of the American Veterinary Medical Association says the discovery could end up saving the lives of animals that eat the tainted food,
Cordes reports.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/...n2758089.shtml
Interesting follow-up/side bar story is this:
Updated:2007-05-01 06:31:22
Will China's Practices Hurt Food Sales?
(May 1) - By some reports, melamine was — until now — a commonly used additive for wheat gluten exported from factories like one in Shandong Province to the United States for pet food.
Melamine is a cheap way to fake high protein levels in wheat gluten.
The Chinese government — moving to protect its multibillion-dollar exports of fruits and vegetables — has now banned melamine and shuttered plants that may have used it.
http://news.aol.com/partners/cbs-new...90001?cid=2249
However, it now seems as if the Chinese factories are also cheating on Human products as well:
In an unsettling report, the New York Times
investigates the use of diethylene glycol, a solvent normally used to make antifreeze, in counterfeit medicines. Chinese manufacturers use the toxin as a cheap substitute for more expensive glycerin syrups; the tainted chemicals make their way into cough syrups, fever medications and injectable drugs, and have been linked to thousands of deaths worldwide. The FDA warned US drug makers and suppliers "to be especially vigilant" and asked that they test all glycerin shipments for the toxin.
http://www.slate.com/id/2165710/fr/nl/
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