Thursday 25 September 2008

Milk

I've been avoiding the melamine milk powder disaster. I just can't think too much about the dead babies, the damaged babies, the parents who thought they were sustaining their children, nurturing them, when in fact the formula they were giving them was poisonous. It's too sad, so I turn away. I suspect I shouldn't, but I do it all the same.

I'm disappointed that much of the media coverage has focused on the business outcomes for Fonterra, in a manner that ignores the personal element. This is tragedy that has grown from the inexorable greed for bigger and bigger profits, I have no doubt, and I wish that there was somehow a balance between reporting what it means for Fonterra's balance sheet and what it means for the thousands of families affected. Mostly it seems to be relegated to the business news now, in our country at least. Homepaddock, a farmer herself, has been writing a lot about this story, so you might want to check out her blog for more detail on it all.

We've got Wriggly down to three milk feeds a day now, each one almost always delivered via the time-honoured method of breastfeeding. On Monday I go back to my full time job, which means my boobs won't be here at lunchtime. I'm going to try to express, however given how exhausted I've got recently I'm not sure that will be a realistic option. So that means a formula feed a day (and sometimes two) for my son. I was quite relaxed about it until the San Lu story broke.

Rationally I know that the formula supply in New Zealand is safe. But we're not always fully rational beings all the time, are we? We're emotional too, and having an emotional response, as much as many people try to degrade it, is still valid.

There's enough guilt attached to using formula already, without this; without this horrible trepidation. And if I'm anxious, thousands of miles away where the milk powder is always tested and we have a rigorous food safety scheme, I can only imagine the fear of Chinese mums and dads.

5 comments:

lauredhel said...

The situation is just outright horrifying. Do you remember a few years back when the babies died in Israel because the manufacturer of the soy formula just plain forgot to put in one of the essential vitamins?

Would it help you at all to be offered info on how to set up to express hands-free? This helped me immensely - I could email, tend to my kid, eat a meal, or even sleep while expressing. I'm happy to answer email on anything to do with this, if you're interested. (Rather than hijack this thread.)

Anonymous said...

Slightly off your main point, but the melamine problem is spreading...

it seems that some Chinese manufacturers may have added tainted milk to vegetable-based proteins to make them taste better:
\http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080924/ap_on_bi_ge/as_china_tainted_milk

Psycho Milt said...

This is tragedy that has grown from the inexorable greed for bigger and bigger profits, I have no doubt...

Just to clarify - is your suspicion that greed for bigger profits on Fonterra's part is responsible? It's certainly the case that greed for bigger profits is why the guys collecting the milk put melamine in it, but that's nothing to do with Fonterra. Their culpability doesn't extend beyond imagining they could partner with a company run by a murderous totalitarian govt and somehow not end up tainted by it.

Azlemed said...

good luck with expressing, I found when I was working that I just expressed when I would have given a feed, or maybe express twice during the day to get enough if it is easier.... the formula thing scared me too, and made me feel really sad.

Julie said...

Do I think Fonterra is at fault? Not really from what I've seen so far (but as I stated in my post I have been avoiding much of the coverage). However I do wonder how much of the NZ coverage has some subtle racism underlying it - blaming The Other (in this case the Chinese end of the business). I understand that in the media in Western countries overseas Fonterra has been lauded for trying to get the Chinese directors to expose the problem, rather than facing the more extreme scrutiny about who knew what and when that our journos have pursued, so I could be quite wrong.

@lauredhel, thanks, will email over the weekend hopefully!