Chinese editorials flay study that showed domestic baby formula safe
Newspapers give the lie to industry-commissioned research, calling it nothing more than propaganda
Many mainlanders saw the recent announcement by the China Dairy Industry Association that domestic milk powder is better than imported products as nothing more than propaganda.
The reported on Monday that a study commissioned by the association had found that formula made on the mainland was more nutritious and cheaper than foreign brands.
The study also said that some foreign-branded products were actually being made on the mainland.
The public, however, remained sceptical, with many remembering the shadow cast over the industry five years ago when the products of leading domestic brand Sanlu were found to be contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine. At least six children who drank the tainted formula died and 300,000 fell ill.
Shenzhen's slammed the dairy association's announcement as "subversive". It said the public did not trust domestic brands and that even government officials like Wang Guangya , director of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, had asked colleagues to ferry milk powder from Hong Kong to Beijing for his four-month-old grandson.
"People's confidence in domestic formula has been reduced to zero, and the association has not taken any effective measures to save the industry from the crisis," it said in an editorial on Tuesday. "Instead, it released a report that not only ignored the facts but also insulted everyone's intelligence. The result will be just the opposite to what they want."
went to the heart of the problem, saying the research lacked transparency, just like the regulatory system for the dairy industry. It pointed out that the association had failed to identify either the company that conducted the research or the foreign brands that were tested.
