FDA Warns Staff On Major Melamine Health Risks

[CountAllVotes]

Itchmo has learned that the FDA has issued a surveillance order for Chinese vegetable proteins on May 1 — including corn gluten and wheat products — based on melamine contamination.

Despite repeated FDA statements saying that there is no risk to human health from contaminated pigs and chickens, the FDA surveillance order indicates otherwise. It states: Pregnant women should not perform this assignment. (Emphasis ours)

Melamine and additional related contaminants have been found in concentrations of up to 20% in analyzed samples. The MSDS for pure melamine is attached as Attachment B and includes warnings “to avoid breathing dust, avoid contact with eyes, skin and clothing”. Chronic exposure may cause cancer or reproductive damage.

Clearly, the FDA is concerned with the safety of their own staff’s exposure to melamine-tainted foods. Despite this warning, the FDA told the press and us yesterday that animals that ate tainted foods were safe for human consumption.

http://www.itchmo.com/read/fda-melamine-surveilance-order-warns-against-major-health-risks_20070509

Wow, isn't this fine news! NOW pregnant women are at risk it seems and 20% is the level of contamination in some of the products tested! :grr:

I'd like some damn answers and I'd like them NOW. Warning to all pregnant women, don't eat any meats that are not organic. If you can't afford it, find something else to eat that costs less. I wish I knew what else to say. :(

[LaurenG]

1. You could say and watch all cereals and bread products that

aren't from an organic source as well.

I hope that melamine is as harmless in the food supply as we are being led to believe.

[Paulie]

7. How do we know Organic is safe?

If it's a manufactured product, USDA Organic, and it says "Organic Wheat" or "Organic Rice", and doesn't label the source, how do we know?

If is in a box/package, why isn't it suspect?

[LaurenG]

9. It would be suspect if you don't trust the supplier

There are no guarantees. :(

[CountAllVotes]

12. ASK

That is what I do, I ask. Where is this "organic" food from?

Are you absolutely certain it is safe?

What else can we do but demand answers? You can even call up the company that makes the food and ask them. If they cannot provide satisfactory answers, return it to the store and tell them that you are afraid to eat the food.

This tactic will change things very fast, mark my words!!!! :grr:

On edit: I myself was in the ER Sun. night as I'm passing blood in the urine. Reason: Still not certain - being treated as a "severe infection" of some sort. :wtf: !!!

:kick:

[Robbien]

15. Eggs also

I would expect much of that melamine flowed through their systems into their eggs.

All eggs in the market are suspect for a longer time period than the chickens themselves.

[krkaufman]

39. Me, too. But I'm forced to recall similar assurances regarding the air quality at Ground Zero.

[havocmom]

2. K & R

Evidently, we have too many people in the US and somebody wants to cull the herd?

Is this the latest twist on the ol 'give the Indians the blankets those pox victims aren't using anymore' ploy? Sure seems like it.

[CountAllVotes]

6. the very sad part is this

there is a store where I live where many people shop and the food is pure CRAP and obviously genetically engineered (they sell potatoes that are the size of melons!). People buy and eat it anyway, having no options and many mothers with WIC vouchers shop there too.

This is similar to what you state - it is kind of like, kill off those that don't have the money to eat well it seems to me (i.e. kill off the poor perhaps?).

I took all the chicken I had in my freezer back to the store and told them I was afraid to eat it as they had lied to me and told me it was a high grade of chicken and it turns out it was Tyson et al.

I got my money back and bought some organic chicken with the money.

I personally don't eat a lot of meat or chicken, but it is a good idea to get the highest quality if others in the household do enjoy and eat meats on occasion.

I think I got lucky yesterday. I found organic fryers marked down 1/2 price yesterday and picked up two of them for about $7.00 each and they are in the freezer now. I hope they are safe, that is all I can say.

:dem:

[havocmom]

16. those stores generally only sell 70% rubbing alcohol too

People who take shots probably should be using 90% to clean off with first. We have to drive over 100 miles to find a bottle of 90% rubbing alcohol.

Yep, the American Dream is highly mortgaged and the uber rich want us peons off the property now.

They want to turn my area into a big ol wild life preserve. I assume Cheney wants to hunt canned buffalo. Some bozos think it would be swell to bring African elephants here (eastern Montana) and set up a 'preserve'. We can barely keep cattle alive but they want elephants from a warm climate up here.

Yep, they want us off the land and what few survive onto reservations.

Seems the mortgage is coming due.

[CountAllVotes]

17. yes these "stores" ...

I don't know how the hell they even stay in business. Some items are cheap sure, but the food all sucks. The meats are all fatty and grotesque looking and just the sight of them makes me want to :puke: .

You might ask why do I shop at this store?

The reason is simple enough, I only buy certain PACKAGED items from them that are indeed a bit cheaper (like sponges, cat litter and greeting cards (safe enough stuff huh?)).

I am glad I do not depend on this place for food shopping. It is too far from where I live so I don't go there often but wow, there sure are a lot of young mothers and people on food stamps that do shop there.

The rest of the food they sell is no doubt 3rd rate or less I've always believed.

:wtf: are the poor people supposed to do the rely on stores like this? They sell very little if any organic food and what they do sell that is organic is more expensive than the same items found at the local health food store!

:dem:

[havocmom]

19. only one store within about 100 miles for me

fresh veggies = onions, spuds, iceberg lettuce most weeks.

[spartan61]

3. Our government is so screwed up!!

We import food stuff from China that is tainted to save the corporations money and at great risk to us and to our pets. But...we can't reimport drugs from Canada because it just might be harmful to Americans. Of course, this also is help the bottom line of the drug companies. Why can the gov argue against importation on one hand and for it on the other?? As I said, our government is screwed up!!

[WinkyDink]

27. We do what China tells us to do. China OWNS US.

[Buzz Clik]

4. 20%? 20%?!!

This is damned odd.

When did exotic chemicals become less expensive than plant protein?

[hootinholler]

29. It is waste melamine from other processes...

That makes it real cheap, sell it or landfill it.

-Hoot

[Buzz Clik]

40. Fascinating. I heard they were "making" it from coal.

Hadn't heard it was a waste product.

Lovely. Up to 20% of these food products is waste that "looks" like protein in a chemical analysis.

[whistle]

5. That pretty much involves everything we eat or that is feed to livestock

...and pets. So if chickens pigs and fish are fed toxic melamine there can be no safe amount that can be allowed for humans to ingest from the food products derived from these sources

[CountAllVotes]

10. well ...

If you buy organic meats, the animals are fed organic food. I hope this helps make you feel a little bit safer. Just don't buy any more meat, etc. that is not organic I would suggest if at all possible.

Learn to cook and learn to cook foods that are fairly quick and easy to prepare (like stir-fry for example).

Hell, I don't know, I just do not know! :evilfrown:

:kick:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

18. No safe amounts?

Well, presumably the ~1 ppm amount we get from using plastic dinnerware is a safe amount that can be allowed for humans to injest, given that we've been doing it for a hundred years or so.

[CountAllVotes]

20. I don't use plastic dinnerware

but, I do store food I have cooked in Tupperware that is very old and freeze it after I cook it. Is this food too at risk in your opinion being it is placed in Tupperware after being cooked?

I do not own a microwave oven thank god. I also knew there was a reason why. Now I know why other than the fact I never wanted one.

:kick:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

22. None of it's at risk.

Nor does it have anything to do with microwave ovens. That said, you do consume melamine.

[CountAllVotes]

23. microwave ovens are a major risk

heating food in one in certain types of PLASTIC containers is not advised, I know that much.

Tell me, how am I eating melamine? I buy organic flour and eat no gluten myself.

I've checked everything I have and I think it is all safe.

So I ask you again, where in the melamine in my food?

Also, why the hell am I pissing blood?

Still no answer from the doctors but the words cancer of the bladder/kidneys were being tossed around like snowballs on Sun. night! :scared:

I'm better now however just today. I've been rather stuck in bed and quite ill. So again I ask, where is the melamine in my rather strict diet?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

24. Yeah, yeah, and cell phones cause brain cancer.

"So I ask you again, where in the melamine in my food?"

You handle plastics, don't you? Your hands are probably just crawling with innumberable little melamine molecules.

"Also, why the hell am I pissing blood?"

I don't know. Maybe it's the tiny shards of glass from all the glass dinnerware you use.

[CountAllVotes]

25. I don't have a cell phone either

and I don't want one.

So by touching anything plastic, including the parts of my car have melamine in them eh?

I'll have to get on Honda's ass about that!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

26. It depends on the plastic.

Melamine resin's used in Formica, Arborite, it's in lots of laminates like flooring and cabinets and furniture. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if their's some in your car. Probably some in the computer you're touching right now.

"I'll have to get on Honda's ass about that!"

Or, you could realize that everybody's been exposed to this stuff for a hundred years now and the levels of exposure are perfectly safe.

There are no toxic chemicals, only toxic concentrations of chemicals.

[karynnj]

38. I was shocked to read in the Kerrys' book , the number of

chemicals that were in the blood of newborn babies. The body burden is one some toxins is cummulative.

[Stephanie]

36. UTI

Urinary tract infection - very common. No worries. I'm sure they gave you antibiotics, you'll be fine.

[Blackhatjack]

8. Remember that small animals were most affected, and baby food/pizza now being examined

There is no doubt that FDA knows a lot more than they are revealing.

Look at what they are doing, not what they are saying.

Baby food and pizza are consumed in large quantities by 'small humans'(ie. babies/children)

And the FDA has basically admitted that corporate food distributors will have to police themselves, that the FDA does not have the resources to do it.

The human food chain is contaminated, no question. How can we correct this? Without a complete overhaul and massive funding it cannot be done.

We are likely in a world of hurt. They are allowing the contaminated food to remain on the market not just for protection of corporate profits. They are trying to head off exposure of massive contamination, and safe food shortages that will inevitably result.

[magellan]

11. My husband told me about a UK report he saw on this yesterday

If I can find it I'll post it here. But essentially some reporter went and talked to a rep at the Chinese company responsible for the contaminated gluten, and not surprisingly the rep feigned ignorance, claiming he didn't even know what "melamine" was.

The reporter then went to another Chinese gluten supplier not far away. This guy said (also not surprisingly, and I'm paraphrasing), "Of course their product is bad. Our product is more expensive because it's GOOD and won't poison you. But the importers wanted the cheapest product."

Can we call the "Free Trade" experiment a bust yet? Or do we have to wait till thousands of our children are suffering and dying from poisoned food and the neolibs are hauled into hearings to tell us, "Mistakes have been made"?

[LeftHander]

13. More cheap inGREEDients for US food industry!!

I'm dying for PROFIT!!!

[Blackhatjack]

14. This is big... wheat flour contaminated, not wheat gluten ... look at what you buy with wheat flour

It is in almost every prepared food on sale at a grocery store.

The two are not at all alike, and the FDA knew this from the beginning --impossible to mix them up.

However, the penetration of wheat flour is much greater than wheat gluten, and the number of US distributors of wheat flour are many times greater than the named (Chemnutra) distributor for wheat gluten.

[lonestarnot]

21. Woohoo. How bout those Chinese? Feed it to Mau. He'll eat anything.

[CountAllVotes]

32. is that a fair statement to make I ask of you?

I find it to be very degrading frankly.

[lonestarnot]

37. Oh and you think it's "fair" that

the mess originated from China and not call them out on it? Bushit! Apparently some there have more regard for money than human health, let alone the safety and health of our pets.

[Igel]

31. You misconstrue.

It was melamine-doped wheat flour, to be sure; but it was parading under the name "wheat gluten". There's no reason to dope wheat flour on its own.

Most things contain a small amount of gluten. 20% of a small amount is a smaller amount.

[hootinholler]

28. 20% isn't a contaminate, it's an ingredient!

Contamination implies the stuff is there accidentally.

-Hoot

[donkeyotay]

33. When FDA inspectors finally got to the factory that contaminated the petfood,

and the owner had bulldozed it. I found that odd. But maybe that was the only way to cover up how this 20% of the product got in. Ingredient, indeed.

[suffragette]

30. It sounds like pet owners should also be concerned

How many of them breathed in the dust, had contact with eyes, skin or clothing when feeding their animals?

Very troubling.

[StarryNite]

34. They protect their own

and to hell with the rest of us. It's a great way to cull the herd though. After all, there isn't going to be enough work for the American citizens what with all the outsourcing.

Iraq didn't do a damn thing to us and we attacked them. China poisons our food and we keep doing business with them. For the few on here that seem to apologize for the FDA, don't you at least have a problem with buying what is sold as food but really contains nonfood crap? How can you be alright with that?

[gravity]

35. You are confusing two separate things

The gluten contains up to 20% melamine, which is considered a dangerous level.

The food contains a negligible amount of melamine, which you couldn't even detect using sensors.