Inside China Today

CCP withholds poisonous milk information for Olympics, continuing to censor information

There is widespread speculation that the Chinese communist regime withheld information about toxic Sanlu milk powder due to the Olympic Games, now that the scandal is now wide in the open, internet and media coverage of the incident are still being suppressed, impinging on the freedom of speech of victim parents.
Mr Geng from Henan province, whose child developed kidney stones after drinking Sanlu milk powder, has severely condemned the unconscionable milk powder producers for using all means in pursuit of profit. He is even angrier at the government for ignoring the people’s lives, and censoring information for the sake of the Olympic Games. Mr Geng says it is despicable for harmful substances to be added to food, and even though the problem was previously raised by consumers, no attention was paid to it because it may affect the atmosphere of the Olympics. He said that foreign media have always paid attention to food safety in China and spoke of news reports that a number of foreign athletes who did not want to consume Chinese food. He says those in charge of food safety need to be held criminally responsible.

Mr Fu from Guangdong says the hospital has not told them about treatment after his child was found to have kidney stones after drinking Sanlu for over a year. He says the diagnosis found kidney stones and the hospital simply said for them to go home and to give the baby plenty of water. Mr Fu says many online media have been stopped by publicising the incident, and many postings cannot be sent forth. He says fellow bloggers have all commented that there are very few online postings about the issue, and there are no in-depth coverage on TV or in the newspaper. Some parents have even had their social chat group QQ blocked.

Another Guangdong resident Mr Li said that his numerous phone calls to relevant government departments and Sanlu have gone unanswered, and he is very angry at officials for keeping a closed lid on the toxic milk powder before the Olympics, and covering up corporate crimes. Mr Li says the problem was already known earlier this year, but officials seem to just be covering things up, hoping it would just die down. He says a relative developed kidney stones last year and could not go to sleep because of the pain, and that it must be worse for babies who cant speak about the pain.

Mr Zhang from Sichuan province says there was previously a local online community forum for the public, but this was closed prior to the Olympics. He says that evaluating the 2008 Olympics, he sees that the Chinese government has not only failed to fulfilled its promise for holding the Olympics to protect human rights and free press, but has strengthened its control on the speech of the people.

The above news is brought to you by Li Wen, Ming Wei and Chris Thomas for Inside China Today on the SOH Radio Network.